Unity
by Hesaluti
Summary: When Hermione is selected onto a team of pupils who are given the task of uniting the school houses, she suddenly finds herself wanting unity with a certain blonde wizard from her rival house. It's a pity he doesn't feel the same. Lots of Draco/Hermione.
1. Trouble

Hermione sighed loudly and tried her best to concentrate on her book. Concentrating on books was never normally a problem for her but as was usual lately, her mind was somewhere else. After a few minutes she slammed the book shut and sighed loudly. She leaned back in her chair and rubbed her forehead. Why was she feeling like this? It was beyond ridiculous!

For a start, she never longed after a boy, it wasn't her style. She had an appreciation for good looking boys, of course but she her love life had never been her priority and she had always found it easy to look, admire and then totally forget and concentrate on her studies. So why had that changed? Things were different in lots of ways this year, especially for the twenty or so pupils who had returned to re-take their 7th year but her choice to return to school made her studies even more important.

And then there was the whole, horrific problem of who she was constantly thinking about! How the hell had that happened? Well, she supposed she did have half an answer to that. A few weeks ago she had been called to Professor McGonagall's office to be told she had been chosen as a member of a committee to improve the relationship between the houses. Given how things had changed since Voldemort's death, the Headmistress and other senior staff had decided that the rivalry between the houses was out of proportion. The job of the newly formed committee was to establish better relationships between the houses.

Hermione was glad to be chosen and was honoured to be the representative from Gryffindor. She was also pleased to see that Anthony Goldstein was on the committee for Ravenclaw and Hannah Abbott for Hufflepuff. And then there was the representative from Slytherin! Not surprisingly, Hermione hadn't exactly looked forward to working with someone from that house. She tried her best to hide this though because to continue the intense dislike between Gryffindor and Slytherin would be totally defeating the point of the Committee in the first place.

As she walked to her first Committee meeting she hoped desperately that the Slytherin representative wasn't a certain tall, blonde and recently increasingly handsome wizard. That would be sheer hell and would almost definitely end in disaster. So, Hermione was half relieved to see Blaise Zabini sitting at the table when she entered the room. She was only half relieved because Blaise was the certain tall, blonde and recently increasingly handsome wizard's best friend so his presence wasn't something to be happy about. However, Blaise had grinned cheekily at her and made a show of getting up to pull her chair out for her.

The meeting had gone well. They all had great ideas and they had managed to discuss them in a civilized manner. To Hermione's surprise, Blaise was agreeable, easy to talk with and incredibly cheerful and upbeat. Not at all like she had imagined he'd be.

The next few meetings had proceeded the same way and Hermione felt herself being drawn to Blaise rather than Anthony or Hannah as she had expected. He was quick witted, obviously intelligent and he had a charming way about him that she really liked. It was a very strange to feel like this about such a prominent member of her rival house and it shocked Hermione how easily he had won her over.

After a few meetings had taken place the two of them had really hit it off and if she saw Blaise around the school, he would come over to speak to her, usually only for a few minutes but nevertheless this involved him leaving his bunch of cronies standing a few feet away, waiting for him. His bunch of cronies always included a certain tall, blonde and recently increasing handsome wizard who stood a few feet away, his snooty nose in the air, looking thoroughly put out that he was being made to wait while his best friend chatted to her. His presence made Hermione feel uncomfortable but she couldn't help but notice his lack of direct hostility towards her. He was far from being friendly or even civil but he never looked directly at her and he said nothing.

About three weeks after the Committee had been formed, Hermione had needed to speak to Blaise about something and she had gone to seek him out. Inconveniently, he was out in the grounds with his usual gang and Hermione had to approach him whilst they all watched her walking towards them. She remained calm and didn't meet anyone's eyes but it was nerve racking. She was about twenty feet away when Blaise noticed her and he immediately jumped to his feet and hurried over to meet her.

All unremarkable up to this point until Hermione found herself staring over Blaise's shoulder at his blonde friend who was staring straight back. Again, his eyes, although not in the least bit friendly, held no hostility. Hermione, who had never had the chance or inclination to stare into this certain pair of eyes, couldn't drag her own eyes away from him. Blaise was talking away to her but she wasn't hearing a single word because she was totally transfixed. To gaze at their smouldering, grey depths when they weren't filled with hate was a totally new experience for her and she found herself acting the same way as half the population of the school did around him.

She went to bed that night still thinking about him and that had been the start of the downward spiral that had lead to Hermione's current, strange and worrying state of mind. Her blossoming friendship with Blaise meant crossing paths with his friend on a regular basis and she found herself growing more and more attracted to him. His former haughtiness had gone and he now had an ease and grace that made him fascinating to watch. He was almost beautiful if that word could be applied to a man. He oozed confidence but without the arrogance that had always accompanied it beforehand. Hermione found herself turning into a dithering wreck whenever he was within fifty feet of her and she was mortified when the reality of this finally sunk in.

She fancied Draco Malfoy! She - Hermione Granger, best friend of Harry Potter – fancied Draco Malfoy! She felt a chill run through her. This could lead to nothing but disaster and she had decided that she needed to stop how she was feeling immediately.

That had been almost four weeks ago and today she was feeling exactly the same way, if not more so. It was time she faced the fact she was in trouble. Deep trouble.


	2. The Quiz

Hermione and Anthony were organising a group of 1st years who were being given an afternoon off lessons to participate in a quiz. The idea was that the teams would be made up of mixed houses and therefore reduce the usual rivalry. The winners would be allowed to visit Hogsmeade (accompanied by 7th years) next time it was a school visit to the village.

This had caused huge excitement amongst the youngest pupils at Hogwarts as they would normally not be allowed into the village until 3rd year. Hermione believed the quiz idea was definitely working as none of them seemed in the least bit concerned which house their team members were from. She glanced over at Blaise who was quiz master and decided to make sure he had got all the questions and answers. The four Committee members had all thought of the questions between them and Hermione thought they were a good mix of serious and fun.

She walked over to Blaise making sure she kept her gaze on him and didn't look over towards the Blue Team's table. Each team had a 6th or 7th year leader and Draco was the Blue Teams so she had been avoiding going anywhere near there working on the theory that the less time she spent with Draco the better she would feel. She knew Draco wasn't particularly happy about his participation in all this, he wasn't the biggest fan of all this new unity but he was joining in nevertheless and she heard his team giggling and chatting so he seemed to be making it fun for them.

Blaise flashed his sexy grin at her as she went over to him and she grinned back.

"Are you ready Mr Quiz Master?"

"Yep. We've got quite an audience haven't we?" Blaise indicated the large number of pupils gathered to watch the quiz.

"Yes and it's a good mix of years and houses so well done on this idea, Blaise." Hermione nudged him in the arm. She took her seat by him as she was going to check the answers. Also it looked great them sitting together – a proper show of house unity.

"So any team member can answer the question, is that right?" A familiar voice broke into Hermione's thoughts and she looked up quickly to find Draco standing right in front of her and Blaise.

"I don't know. Hermione is in charge of the rules." Blaise answered his friend, unhelpfully.

Hermione grimaced, not wanting to have to engage in conversation with Draco but she had no choice. He didn't bother repeating his question to her and instead he turned his cool eyes on her and raised his eyebrows questioningly.

"Err...yes...I mean..they can all answer." Hermione stuttered over her words, mortified at her inability to act normally around him. She stared at his collar, not wanting to meet his eyes but it wasn't helping because his shirt was slightly open and she found herself staring at a small piece of toned flesh.

"Right." Draco turned to walk away but Hermione realised she hadn't made it clear that only the team leader could actually give the answer.

"No...stop." She spoke quietly and Draco didn't hear her. "Draco," she said this louder and he immediately turned around in surprise to look at her. Had she just called him Draco? That was Blaise's fault as understandably he always called his friend by his first name and it was how Hermione had begun to think of him. She licked her lips nervously waiting for his response.

"Did you just call me Draco?" To her utter surprise he sounded amused.

"I just wanted to make it clear that the whole team can decide on the answer but only the Team Leader can actually give the answers." Hermione managed to say this without stuttering and she looked up at him. Draco leant closer, bending towards her.

"Right, got it." He was looking at her intently and she realised she was holding her breath. She wasn't intimidated by him, she had long since got over that, but she knew she wouldn't get away with calling him Draco. She was right. "Let's make something clear, Granger." He emphasised her surname. "Blaise may be all chummy with you lately, god knows why, but only my closest friends call me by my first name. Close friends is a category you most definitely don't fall into, so if we have to speak at all, let's stick to Malfoy from now on shall we?" He went to stand and Hermione felt her temper rise. He might be drop dead gorgeous just lately, she allowed herself a quick look at him – yes, gorgeous was a good description – but that didn't mean she'd lie down and take his sarcasm. Despite his new and improved attitude and her new feelings towards him she knew he still thought of her with disdain and her pride wouldn't let him treat her with such contempt.

"I think I'll stick to Ferret, actually." She regretted the words as soon as they left her lips but it was too late. She heard Blaise chuckle next to her and Draco glanced across at him. She took a breath in anticipation of Draco's comeback. If she wanted him in the way she had dared to think of him lately, this was not the way to go about it! Why did he have to be so bloody annoying and so bloody annoyingly handsome at the same time?

To her astonishment, Draco didn't answer her and he simply went to turn away again, then stopped.

"Before I waste any more energy walking back to my table are you sure you've told me the rules properly this time?" He was smirking at her but not maliciously and she had to concentrate on not letting her jaw drop open. Had he just let her get away with calling him Ferret? Blaise chuckled again at the look on her face and she glared at him.

"Yes, I'm positive."

"Good." Draco raised his eyebrows at her before walking back to his table. Sexily. Hermione groaned to herself wishing she could control her thoughts. Why was she thinking that way about him after their little exchange? She should be thinking irritatingly, arrogantly, annoyingly. Not sexily! She watched as he lowered his tall frame into a chair and spoke to his team of 1st years who seemed to be hanging off his every word. So completely sexily. Hermione put her head in her hands and groaned.

"He's not as bad as you seem to think he is." Blaise voice broke into her thoughts and she turned to him.

"I know we seem to be on the same wavelength on just about everything, Blaise but I really think that Draco Malfoy is the one thing we are never going to agree on." Hermione replied, shaking her head.

"If he was really that bad, could you imagine me wanting to hang around with him for all this years? Oh and what about House Unity? Forgive, forget and move on?" Blaise asked her.

"Tell that to Professor Dumbledore." Hermione immediately put her hand to her mouth, instantly regretting her harsh words. Blaise face seemed to crumble for a moment and she felt awful. She reached across and touched his arm. "Blaise! I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have said that."

"No one is happy about Dumbledore, Hermione."

"I know, I'm sorry. It's just you're so nice, I can't fathom how you and Draco are friends." Hermione tried to explain.

"You think I'm nice?" Hermione was relieved to see him smile at her as he said this.

"You know I do."

"Did you think I was nice six weeks ago?" Blaise asked her pointedly and she knew where this conversation was going.

"No."

"That's my point exactly! Before you got to know me properly and gave me a chance, you didn't like me either. Look how wrong you were about that!"

"It's not the same."

"Why not?"

"You're not Draco Malfoy. I hate him and I always will." Hermione lied hoping if she said it adamantly enough she might begin to mean it. She should hate him, he was hateful. So why didn't she?

"It didn't look much like hate to me when you were just looking at him." Blaise pointed out with a grin and Hermione blushed realising he had been watching her gawping at his friend. She was rescued from answering this by Professor Flitwick announcing the start of the quiz. Blaise slipped seamlessly into Quiz Master mode and Hermione got ready to check the first lot of answers. As Blaise read out the first question she unconsciously glanced over towards the Blue Team and was surprised to be met with a pair of grey eyes, returning her gaze.

**Hi - hope you're enjoying it so far. What I've found is it's difficult - now I'm on story no. 4 - to make sure I'm not just churning out a slight variation on my previous stories, so here is my attempt at another Draco and Hermione, hopefully it won't repeat the previous one's too much but please be patient with me if it does. Also it will include Ginny and Blaise because I like the four of them. So - Hermione has a huge crush and it doesn't look much like Draco is on the same wavelength so she's going to have her work cut out getting near him...read and review...x**


	3. An idea

Hermione was sitting by the lake with Ginny. She gazed over at her friend who was writing to Harry. They were continuing their relationship, long distance and it appeared to be working so far. Hermione's little fling with Ron had been short lived and although they had remained friends there hadn't been much contact between them. Ron and Harry were busy starting their careers and Hermione was happy for them.

"Hey girls." A voice interrupted her thoughts and she looked up to see Blaise and Draco standing by them. She pinned a smile on her face and made sure she kept her eyes on Blaise. Ginny who had got used to Blaise and Hermione being friends, greeted the boys casually.

"Hey Blaise...Malfoy." Ginny reluctantly added Draco's name on the end but at least she did bother to acknowledge him. Blaise sat down by Hermione and stretched his long legs out in front of him. Draco remained standing a small distance away.

Blaise waved his hand towards his friend. "Draco has had an idea to help the house unity thing."

Hermione glanced sceptically in Draco's direction. "He has?" She heard the surprised tone of her voice and knew it sounded rude but she couldn't help it.

Draco's eyes met with hers before he spoke. "Yes, he has! No need to sound quite so surprised, Granger." He spoke about himself in the third person and with irony and met her gaze challengingly.

Blaise continued, "Yes and I wanted to run it by you before I suggest it to the others at the meeting."

"OK."

"Draco has suggested a Quidditch tournament, with mixed house teams." Blaise looked from Hermione to Ginny who had put her letter down and was leaning forward, interested.

"Oooh! Sounds like a great idea!" Ginny said. "I'd be up for that...I want you on my team though."

Blaise grinned. "Thanks, of course I'll be on your team."

Hermione laughed and grabbed Blaise's chin making him look in the direction Ginny was. Straight at Draco who was grinning his head off.

"She was asking Draco." Hermione pointed out still grinning.

Blaise looked abashed and Ginny giggled. "Sorry, I did mean Draco but you're a great player too. If we were all on the same team that'd be great! We'd be sure to win."

"OK, now I've had my confidence stamped on..." Blaise continued and then winked at Ginny, "you think it's a good idea?"

Ginny nodded enthusiastically. Hermione shrugged.

"Yeh, it does sound good. You know how knowledgeable I am about Quidditch though so you'll have to be in charge of it."

"You mean I get to boss you around for a change, great!" Blaise stood up and brushed the grass of his trousers. He nodded over to Draco. "There you go - your idea has met with approval."

Draco looked at his friend without a smile but he nodded his head. Hermione found herself drinking in how he looked, leaning against a tree, his face in profile. He was acting strangely, still being off hand and superior yet at the same time he seemed to be softening. He'd taken her insult of calling him a Ferret without a word of retaliation and now here he was thinking of ideas to help house unity and actually coming with Blaise to tell them about it. Hermione knew that she was looking for the good in him and she had to stop.

Ginny had stood up and she walked over to Draco, holding her hand out to him.

"So do we have a deal then? We play on the same team? I've always fancied..." Ginny didn't get to finish her sentence because Draco finished it for her.

"Me...I know you have, Weasley," he smirked at her only half joking. "I knew you'd get over your infatuation for Potter eventually."

Ginny narrowed her eyes at him. "If you'll let me finish what I was saying...I've always fancied playing Quidditch with you instead of against you." Ginny paused for a second then leant closer to him. "As for the fancying you, I like my men to have a personality that matches their looks."

Draco looked at her for a moment. "Mmm...both boring in Potter's case."

Ginny glared at him. "He's not a bloody coward though is he?" They all understood her implication.

"No, he's a hero of course," Draco's voice dripped with sarcasm. "You don't have to ride around on your broomstick announcing your greatness or have your name in the paper every day to be a hero, Weasley. While Potter was enjoying the glory some of were fighting our own war, we just weren't broadcasting it to the nation."

The other three of them were standing looking at him, surprised at his words. He had managed to berate Harry as always but he had also stuck up for himself with some dignity. Ginny was staring at him obviously debating with herself as to whether she should continue the argument.

"Well thanks for so actively promoting the feeling of house unity." Blaise interrupted, taking his turn at being sarcastic and Hermione couldn't help but chuckle. "Why don't you agree to disagree on Harry and concentrate on winning a Quidditch match together instead?"

Hermione watched whilst holding her breath for Draco's reaction to this. His old self would have laughed in Ginny's face and insulted her again and Hermione almost wanted him to do that now because if he reverted to his old behaviour she was sure her ridiculous new feelings for him would leave her. How could she possibly be attracted to someone as cold and mean as he had once been?

"What Blaise is saying sounds sensible. You stop insulting Harry and I'll stop being touchy about it. Do we have a deal?" Ginny raised her eyebrows at Draco, who continued to stare at her. Then he nodded with a smirk.

"OK, Weasley. I'll be a grown up about it. You have a deal."

"Ginny."

"What?"

"My name is Ginny not Weasley."

Draco's eyes remained cold but he nodded and then surprised them all again by saying, "OK, you have a deal, Ginny."

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Hermione kept running over the events of earlier as she and Blaise made their way to the Hall after their committee meeting. She had never seen Draco as mellow as he had been this afternoon. It was as if he was dying to join in properly but something was holding him back. His easy agreement with Ginny was a completely new side to him and Hermione felt a little flutter of excitement. She then squashed it quickly. A leopard really didn't change its spots that quickly, there was no point getting her hopes up.

The meeting had gone well and everyone seemed enthusiastic about Draco's Quidditch idea. Blaise had volunteered to organise the whole thing. It had been decided that students could enter as a team of their own choosing, but only mixed house teams would be allowed. That way there could be no arguments that any team had been picked unfairly.

Before they could go ahead with the Quidditch plan however, they had to organise the supervised trip to Hogwarts for the winning team from the quiz. The Blue Team – Draco's team – had won and Hermione marvelled yet again at Draco's ability to succeed in almost everything he did. There would be twenty 1st years to supervise (each team member had been allowed to chose a friend to go with them) and as it was the day the rest of the upper school visited Hogwarts as well, they had asked for volunteers who would be willing to take one or two of the little ones with them. Anyone willing to do this had been asked to go to the Hall tonight and she and Blaise would be sorting out the arrangements.

"What are we going to do if no-one is in here?" Blaise asked as they approached the Hall.

"We'll have to use our persuasive powers on our classmates." Hermione said. "I'm sure you can manage to get a few ladies to help you." She grinned at him teasingly.

"What are you implying, Miss Granger?" Blaise asked, grinning back at her.

"You know exactly what I'm implying, Mr Zabini." Hermione retaliated.

Blaise stopped walking and grabbed her arm. "Yeh, you're implying that I can use my complete and utter sexiness to lure some lovely girls into helping us."

Hermione burst out laughing and they grinned at one another.

"Well I wouldn't have phrased it quite like that but I guess that is roughly what I meant." Hermione acknowledged. Blaise stared at for a moment before surprising her by stepping closer and grabbing her around the waist. It felt strange, but nice and Hermione didn't try to move away.

"So do I take it that you think I'm sexy then?" Blaise said in her ear. Hermione didn't feel embarrassed or uncomfortable because Blaise was grinning as he said this so she knew he wasn't really trying anything on with her. He was fun and attractive so Hermione went along with his teasing.

"Of course you're sexy," Hermione said soothingly before adding, "if you like tall, gangly boys with slightly big ears."

Blaise stared at her for a moment, making doubly sure she was only joking. "You're joking, right?" he touched his ears self consciously. "I haven't got really big ears have I?"

Hermione giggled and then a noise made them both turn and look towards the large Hall door which had opened. Draco was standing by it staring at them and he had a strange look on his face. Hermione realised that it must look like she and Blaise had been caught in a compromising position and she stepped away quickly. Draco continued to stare for a few more seconds before he cleared his throat.

"If I'm not interrupting anything..." he left his sentenced unfinished with an obvious implication.

"You're not." Hermione felt the need to defend herself, especially to Draco. The last thing she wanted was him thinking anything was going on with her and Blaise. He paused again at her quick answer and his eyes seemed to bore into her, making her feel totally exposed.

"If you two have finished," again Draco paused for effect his face saying what he thought of this, "everyone is waiting for you."

"Well their wait is over." Blaise said in his matter of fact fashion and he brushed past Draco into the hall leaving Hermione and Draco staring at one another. Hermione still felt the need to explain.

"We were just messing around..."

"I could see perfectly well with my own eyes what you were doing." Draco didn't let her finish, his voice cold. He went to turn back into the hall and without thinking Hermione grabbed his arm. He turned and looked at her with disdain, shaking her hand away.

"Get off me."

"It wasn't how it looked." Hermione bit her lip when his glare stopped her speaking.

"Do you think I care what you two are up to?" Draco frowned at her. "You can have sex on the main staircase for all I care. Just don't get up to stuff when I'm having to stand around and wait for you!"

He went back into the hall and Hermione tried to gather herself before she followed him. As she entered the large room in which a good few volunteers were waiting, she suddenly realised that Draco was one of them! He was here to offer to help with the Hogsmeade trip! Wonders would never cease! With that and his reaction to seeing her and Blaise Hermione was beginning to wonder what exactly had come over him.

**Hope you're liking it. Trip to Hogsmeade next...please read and review xxxxxx Thanks so much for the reviews so far, it's great to get them.**


	4. Conversation?

The twenty 1st years, along with their older partners were all gathered by the school gates waiting for Hermione to check their names off so they could leave for the village. Hermione was working her way down the list, making sure each pair of 1st years were with the right person and that they had been made aware of the rules. It was quite a responsibility and Hermione was trying her best not to get flustered.

Eventually she got near the bottom of the list and that left just Hannah and herself with the four 1st years between them. They followed the others, the first years chatting excitedly. Hermione and Hannah found the younger pupils enthusiasm amusing and they answered all their questions about what shops they could visit once they got there.

Once they arrived they spent an easy couple of hours exploring all the shops. Hermione had arranged to meet Ginny and her two 1st years just before lunch and Hannah joined them as well. They took two tables at the Three Broomsticks letting the six 1st years take their own table while they ate lunch.

"Phew, I need a rest!" Hannah said glancing over at the little ones. "They wear me out with their constant chattering."

Hermione and Ginny laughed. "I know! My two haven't paused for breath all morning." Ginny agreed with her. "They're cute though."

Hannah looked around and then leant forward, lowering her voice. "Not being funny but can you imagine how the boys are coping looking after the kids for a whole morning? I bet they've let them run riot around the village."

"I'm trying not to think about it." Hermione said with a grimace. "Blaise's two were already running rings round him before they even left Hogwarts grounds." Hermione put her hand to her mouth. "Oh! Do you think they'll remember to feed them?"

Hannah and Ginny giggled at Hermione's reaction. "I think that might be the least of your worries, Hermione." Ginny said. "Draco has probably jinxed them both by now, he didn't look exactly happy with his responsibilities."

Hermione groaned knowing that Ginny was joking but half scared she might be right. After lunch Hermione, Ginny and Hannah split up because six 1st years all turning up at the same shop at the same time was starting to cause chaos. When Hermione got to Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes she decided to let her pupils go in on their own. She didn't particularly like the twins shop and she knew the 1st years would enjoy exploring much more without her breathing down their necks.

After setting them some rules she leant against the shop window and enjoyed a few minutes peace and quiet before she heard a familiar voice. Draco had arrived around the corner and obviously having had the same idea as she had, he gave instructions to his 1st years before sending them into the shop alone. Hermione was glad to see them both in one piece but mortified to think that she and Draco were about to stand outside the shop together. She thought about going in but that would have been too obvious so she ignored him and hoped he would do the same.

It was ironic that she had spent the last six years trying to ignore Draco Malfoy because she hated him and now she was ignoring him for the exact opposite reason! After a few minutes she dared a glance at him out of the corner of her eye and then immediately regretted it. He was leaning against the wall on the opposite side of the door and managing to look stunningly attractive whilst doing it. His hair was flopping over his eyes as he bent his head down, his perfect skin and features illuminated by a faint patch of sunlight. He looked up suddenly and caught her staring at him.

"Mmmm...unusual." Draco's voice came to her across the street. She knew she should just ignore him because he hadn't addressed her directly but she couldn't help but look up at him again. "Can't keep your eyes off me, Granger?"

Hermione lowered her head again and ignored him, unable to answer.

"What no indignant reply?" Draco's voice taunted her.

"Just leave me alone." Hermione met his eyes again as she answered him.

"I was leaving you alone until you started drooling over me." Draco raised his eyebrows at her, deliberately provoking her. For the thousandth time, Hermione cursed herself for liking him. Why couldn't she have developed this ridiculous crush on someone nice! How could she like someone so mean spirited? If it hadn't been for her need to wait for her pupils she would have flounced off but she couldn't so she turned angrily to him instead.

"Why must you always provoke me? Do you get some kind of sick pleasure out of it?" she had lost her temper now and she walked over to him. "Tell me Draco, why are you even bothering to help with the house unity thing? You obviously can't forgive and forget, you're still holding a million grudges from the past...or is it just me you hate? Is it just me that you can't at least try and be civil to?" she felt tears behind her eyes and turned away.

"I told you not to call me Draco."

She turned back to him. "Is that all you can say to me after I've said all that? Don't call me Draco! Is that all you can say?" she knew she was raising her voice hysterically but he was winding her up to the point of exploding. She took two steps away from him intending to go into the shop but a hand grabbed her arm stopping her. She was pulled round to face him and the look on his face removed every trace of her anger as if he'd waved a wand over her.

His eyes were looking straight into hers and they weren't cold and hard but warm and soft and it took her breath away. She took a deep shuddering breath wondering what on earth was going on.

"Calm down." Draco's voice was so quiet she had to strain her ears to hear him. She looked down at his hand that was still on her arm and he dropped it. They stared at each other for a few more moments, Hermione hardly daring to breath. He seemed taller and broader now she was right next to him. She had never been this close to him before unless you counted the time she'd thumped him! His next words made her stare at him in amazement because it was as if he'd read her mind. "Maybe I should be worried because the last time you were this close to me and this angry, I ended up with a bloody nose!" And then to shock her even more he flashed his grin at her, before adding, "though I'm not sure you could reach high enough to do that to me now."

Hermione stared at him open mouthed, totally taken aback by his sudden change of attitude. When she didn't respond, he shrugged his shoulders before offering her a few words of explanation.

"Old habits die hard, Granger."

Hermione stared again and then she realised that she really did need to answer him. She cleared her throat.

"I've managed to get out of my old habits, Draco." She emphasised her use of his first name to prove her point but she tried not to sound accusing. She knew it had taken Draco an awful lot to say what he just had to her. His disturbingly smouldering eyes were locked to hers again and in that instant she knew that there wasn't a chance in hell of her getting over her infatuation for him anytime soon. She saw a little smirk break out on his face.

"You were staring at me...Hermione." There was a slight hesitation before he used her name but the sound of it leaving his lips was incredible. She bit her lip, picking her words carefully.

"And since when did it bother Draco Malfoy having a girl stare at him?"

"You're not just any old girl, are you? You're Hermione Granger, the girl who has hated me with a vengeance for the past six years. That's what I meant by unusual."

The door burst open and Hermione's pupils appeared laden with bits and bobs. Hermione knew the conversation was over and she was sorry because it was just beginning to get interesting. Very interesting.

**Hope you liked it. Let me know what you think by reviewing - thanks for the reviews so far. x**


	5. Just being reasonable

The following day there was another meeting scheduled to go through the teams that had been submitted to play in the mixed house Quidditch cup. The Captains of the current Quidditch teams had been invited to have a look at the submitted teams and make sure they were all of a fairly even ability. It would just cause more friction if one team was a lot better (or worse) than all the others.

So Hermione knew Draco would be attending the meeting and there he was when she walked in, sitting next to Blaise. Blaise winked at her as she sat down next to him and she grinned back.

"OK, I'll start by reading out the names in each team and let's put them into their ability groups – then we can decide if any of the teams has an unfair advantage," Anthony said gathering up the pile of submissions.

This took a while and because Hermione hadn't really got a clue who was good at Quidditch she sat back and let the boys take over. The only team that caused any problem was the one with Blaise, Draco and Ginny in and Anthony insisted they split up or no-one else would stand a chance. Blaise agreed to play with Anthony and the problem was solved. Once the teams were sorted Hermione and Hannah started drawing up a schedule for matches and then the boys decided which team would play. It was busy and intricate work and Hermione marvelled at how well they all worked together.

Eventually it was all agreed and Anthony thanked everyone and said they could leave. Hermione decided to stay behind and draw up a proper match list to go on the notice boards around the castle. Noticing she was staying, both Blaise and Anthony offered to help her but she was happy to do it alone. She had managed to avoid Draco for the length of the entire meeting and she was happy to occupy herself with this little task.

After about ten minutes the door seemed to burst open making Hermione jump out of her skin. Draco was standing there a slip of paper in his hand.

"I forgot about this," he said, sounding slightly out of breath.

"What is it?"

"Marcus and Terence gave me their team slip earlier, knowing I was coming to the meeting and I forgot to hand it in." Draco seemed completely oblivious that he was talking to her and was speaking perfectly normally without any of the usual snide tone he used in her presence.

"Oh! Bugger!" Hermione glanced down at the almost completed match list. It was going to be a complete nightmare sliding another team in now.

Draco came and stood behind her, studying the list. He leaned over and ran his finger across the lines, trying to find a place to put the new team without causing a complete revision of the matches. After a few minutes they both knew that there was going to be no other choice than to re-do the whole match list. Hermione sighed loudly.

"They have to be included right from the beginning or they will have an unfair advantage." She took the team slip unceremoniously from Draco. "OK, just give me the slip and I'll start again."

"I'll help you." Draco offered and if she hadn't been so frustrated at having to start all over again Hermione may have been shocked.

"No, just leave it to me."

"No. It will be much quicker if I help and you might mess it up because you don't know the teams like I do." Draco took the seat next to Hermione and shuffled close to her so they could work together on the list. Suddenly Hermione's attention was drawn away from the list and her brain was filled with the feeling of Draco right next to her. He smelt delicious and his leg was resting against hers sending her into overdrive. How the hell was she supposed to concentrate now?

With a supreme effort she turned her attentions back to the match list and between them they worked through the first few matches, re-writing the plan. Draco was co-operative and helpful and Hermione felt like she was working with someone else entirely to the Draco she met around the school every day.

Suddenly, he leant closer over the list and pointed at a line with his finger.

"That's an entirely unfair match. They'll be beaten in no time. We should move it around to make it fair. No-one will want to watch such a one sided match," he said this quietly, thoroughly concentrating on the task and he looked at Hermione surprised when she put her head in her hands and groaned.

"Where's best to move them to then? Bloody hell, at this rate we'll be here all night! This is a right pain!"

When Draco didn't answer her she looked up at him to find him staring at her.

"Sorry."

It was just one small word that left his lips but it hung between them for several seconds because they both knew it was the first time he had ever said it to her. She couldn't form a reply, so she just stared at him.

"You can go now. I'll finish it off." Draco offered and he went to grab the paper.

"No. Let's just get on with it." Hermione took the paper back again but Draco kept a tight hold on it.

"I'm perfectly capable of sorting it out on my own," Draco insisted.

"I didn't say you weren't but it'll be much quicker with both of us. Give it here." Hermione grabbed the paper again and pulled. There was a tearing sound and they both stared at the piece of paper in their hand.

"Well done, Granger."

"Me? Why are you blaming me? You're the one insisting on being a hero!"

"I'm the Quidditch expert. Why are you even involved?" Draco snatched the paper out of her hand and stood up. "I'll take it all with me and do it in the common room."

Hermione put her hands on her hips indignantly. Who the hell did he think he was? She jumped forward and blocked his exit to the door. She held her hand out for the paper.

"Give it me. I'm on the committee, you're not. I won't let you boss me around." She met his gaze defiantly. She really didn't care that much about doing the match list but she wouldn't let him walk all over her. She vaguely registered that he seemed to have the unique ability to make her want him like crazy whilst irritating her more than anyone else.

"And how exactly do you intend to stop me?" He put his head to one side, looking her up and down. He stepped closer to her, reaching behind her to grab the door handle. She took a step backwards but he just stepped closer again. She moved again and now her back was against the door, his arm around her, his hand on the door knob and suddenly she couldn't care less about the match list or anything else for that matter! He was so close, his breath on her cheek, his body millimetres away from her. She inhaled deeply, drinking in his scent, her skin on fire where his arm touched her waist.

"Are you sure you want to be this close to a Muggle born witch?" She hoped he'd step away when she said this but he didn't. She decided this wasn't a good path to go down so she cleared her throat and tried to sound reasonable. "Just give me the list, Draco."

He put his lips near to her ear. "What have I told you about calling me Draco?" He let go of the door knob, grabbed her wrists in his hands and put them behind her back but she was quick and she wriggled free, ducking under his arm and grabbing the list from him in the process. She stood a safe distance away, waving it at him.

"I'll call you whatever I like but right now loser seems appropriate." She couldn't help but smile at her own cleverness then she realised she who it was she was taunting and her smile faded. Why did she let him wind her up? She desperately wanted them to start getting along but she could see it was hopeless. They just couldn't be in each other's company without wanting to kill one another. He was staring at her, his eyes unfathomable.

"You should know better than to talk to me like that, Granger." His voice was low and she couldn't decide if she should be scared or not. Surely if he was going to act like the old Draco, he would have already been threatening her with his wand by now?

"And you should know better than to use your physical strength to try and intimidate me."

"I wasn't trying to intimidate you."

"Of course you were."

"I wouldn't dare."

On these last three words she looked up at him in surprise and found he was smirking. Was he joking with her? No, he couldn't be. She was about to ask him what he meant when he continued speaking.

"I keep doing this."

"What? Doing what?" Hermione asked him.

"Being reasonable."

"Huh! You call this being reasonable?"

Draco sighed in exasperation as if he was trying to explain something to a small child who was having difficulty understanding.

"I am about to be reasonable and suggest that we both come back here tomorrow and re-do the entire thing together."

"Oh." Hermione was truly shocked by his sudden co-operation.

"Is that a yes or a no?"

"Errr...it's a yes."

"Good. See you at 6.30pm tomorrow." With these last few words he was gone, leaving Hermione staring at the door feeling a turmoil of emotions. She had just agreed to meet Draco Malfoy alone tomorrow night! He had just been reasonable! And they had just had an argument about who was going to do the work! They had argued about helping each other! The world had gone crazy!

**Mmmm...nothing like being forced together in a small space to move things along a bit. Hope its flowing well and not moving too fast. I really enjoy writing conversations between them, it's the best way to get their personalites across and give a hint as to what is to come. Keep reading and as usual I will do my little bit of begging for a review - I luv 'em! x**


	6. Special connection

First lesson the next day was Transfiguration and Hermione took her usual seat next to Ginny. Professor McGonagall waited for the class to settle then cleared her throat.

"Today we are going to try some very advance magic. Before we start, I must emphasise that this is very difficult magic and if you have a problem with it you shouldn't feel bad."

Hermione liked the sound of this and listened eagerly.

"Would Mr Malfoy and Miss Granger come to the front of the class, please?"

Hermione stared at Professor McGonagall in surprise. Firstly, at the request to go to the front and secondly, who she was being asked to go to the front with. She reluctantly got up and joined Draco at the front.

"Right, I have selected the two of you because of your ability in this subject. Hopefully you will succeed in completing the task."

Draco and Hermione stared at one another for a moment.

"Miss Granger, could you please transfigure Mr Malfoy's tie into a scarf." Professor McGonagall nodded encouragingly at her. Hermione looked back at her teacher puzzled. This wasn't advanced magic! This was 2nd year stuff at best. Looking unsure she went to raise her wand and point it a Draco's neck but Professor McGonagall stopped her.

"Without speaking."

Hermione turned to her teacher again. "A non-verbal spell? I can't do a non-verbal spell, I've tried before and it's ridiculously hard."

"That may be so, Miss Granger but I would like you to try again." Professor McGonagall instructed her. "Concentrate on Mr Malfoy, say the spell in your head in exactly the same way you would verbally."

"But Professor what if it goes wrong? She just said she can't do it." Draco asked, sounding nervous.

"Oh, stop making a fuss Mr Malfoy and stand still." Professor McGonagall showed her usual lack of sympathy for any dramatics.

"But she's aiming it at my neck!" Draco insisted. Both the Professor and Hermione ignored him and Hermione raised her wand to his neck, quite enjoying the terrified look on his face. She did as she had been told, concentrating hard, several times but nothing happened. "I told you I can't do it," she said grumpily.

"If Granger can't do it, we have no chance!" Theo Nott mumbled from his desk right at the front. Professor McGonagall ignored him and continued.

"Right, Miss Granger. I would like you to try again but this time Mr Malfoy if you could also think of the spell in your head. Concentrate really hard on your own tie. After 3...1...2...3."

They did as instructed but still nothing happened and Hermione lowered her wand dejected. Professor McGonagall took her hand and raised the wand again.

"Do it again, you must think together. Concentrate on each other and the spell. If you can make a connection it will work."

Hermione and Draco tried again, both of them wanting it to succeed. Hermione said the spell in her head and after a split second Draco's striped tie seemed to wiggle a bit and then it became a large, green scarf. Everyone in the class clapped and both Draco and Hermione looked shocked.

"Lovely! Now everyone take a partner and try the same spell. Miss Granger and Mr Malfoy try changing Miss Granger's tie now."

Hermione looked at Draco uncertainly, expecting him to protest at having to work with her but he didn't. He just raised his wand and nodded for her to try the spell with him. After the third attempt it worked and Professor McGonagall came rushing over enthusiastically.

"Wonderful! Good work. How about trying to change Mr Malfoy's jumper to a cloak? Move over there behind my desk so you can concentrate."

They did as they were told and Hermione got ready to raise her wand, aiming at Draco's jumper when she noticed he was smirking at her.

"If we do this, I think McGonagall may have babies!" he said in a low voice and then he grinned.

Hermione couldn't help but grin back as she had never seen the Professor so animated before either. She couldn't take her eyes off Draco with the smile on his face, it was a genuine smile and it lit up his entire face. He looked so incredibly gorgeous Hermione wanted to sigh. Like those silly, giggling girls did whenever he was around them! For a moment there was no-one else in the room and Hermione almost forgot she was standing at the front of class gaping at her former enemy.

"Let's try it then." Draco's voice broke into her thoughts. She nodded and raised her wand, aiming at his torso. They tried it five times but nothing was happening.

"I don't understand, you would think it would work exactly the same for the jumper as it did for the tie. If anything I'm concentrating even harder," Hermione said exasperated. She wasn't used to failing in class.

Draco stepped closer. "Right, this time keep looking into my eyes, you kept looking down."

Hermione opened her mouth to protest that it wasn't her fault but he stopped her.

"Don't start - I'm not blaming you, Granger." He grabbed her hand and moved her wand higher so it was aiming at his chest. "Aim here, maybe it was too low before..." He seemed to stop speaking all of a sudden and stare at her, still holding her hand. She was trying desperately to try and keep control of herself because standing so close, staring into his eyes and now him touching her hand was sending her emotions into madness. She could drown in his eyes, they were like pools of water and his skin this close was so smooth. He still hadn't let go of her hand and she had no idea how long they had been standing there, she just knew that for once she wasn't the only one aware of how close they were. Suddenly Draco seemed to come to his senses and he dropped her hand and coughed.

She did as he had instructed, having to use every ounce of willpower not to just lose herself in his eyes. Suddenly Draco's jumper shimmered and seemed to disappear before re-appearing seconds later as a black cloak.

"Yes!" Draco exclaimed looking down at his new item of clothing. "Bloody amazing!"

"Language, Mr Malfoy." Professor McGonagall said as she approached but she was smiling none the less. "Excellent work both of you. It takes real teamwork to do this and I intend to award you both with 50 house points."

Hermione left the lesson ten minutes later feeling extremely pleased with herself. She was feeling plenty of other emotions as well. Confusion at Draco's sudden changes of attitude, annoyance at her inability to not let him affect her when he was within 50 yards of her and another emotion that she tried to squash but failed. Hope. She felt hope, just a small glimmer because she was sure she hadn't imagined Draco's reaction to touching her hand.

**So is Hermione right to feel hopeful? Definately a bit of chemistry going on. You know my usual request...review...review...review...x**


	7. Back to square one

Draco was already there when she arrived at their arranged meeting to re-do the match list. He was bent over a large piece of paper on the desk and without ceremony she joined him and they worked silently for a few minutes.

Draco then leant back and stretched, rubbing his forehead.

"I need a minute without staring at this," he said and Hermione moved away from the desk too. She stared out of the window, partly to stop herself staring at him and partly because she had no idea what reaction she would get if she tried to engage him in conversation. After a few minutes she started working again, finding it easier to have something to concentrate on.

"Don't you ever stop, Granger?" Draco's asked. "Is this the thing that does it for you? Paper and words and analysis?"

"Of course not!" Hermione said indignantly. "Just because I have high standards for myself, it doesn't mean I don't have a life." She couldn't help it but she felt insulted by his implication. He sat back down by her and they worked again, surprisingly well. She wanted to throw his insult back at him because he was just as studious as she was and just as analytical and clever. Somehow he managed to carry it off in a way that made it cool!

"So are you coming to watch Ginny and I win our matches then?" His tone and easy going question surprised her and she looked at him.

"Errr...I hadn't thought about it."

"You've got to come and watch!"

She sat up properly and looked at him. "Why do you care if I watch or not?"

She saw his back straighten defensively as he answered her. "I didn't say I cared, Granger."

She swallowed anxiously as she realised she was being aggressive with him when he had only tried to make conversation. She'd been wanting him to be normal with her and now he was she was snapping his head off. Hermione knew that it was her self defence mechanism kicking in, trying to protect her from letting Draco affect her anymore than he already was.

They worked in silence again and Hermione was glad when they finished. As Draco used a spell to make several copies of their finished article she watched him, feeling anxious and frustrated. She wanted to go over and ask him if they could try and be friends. She wanted to tell him that she no longer hated him, that the opposite was true. More than that though she just wished they could feel at ease with each other, like she felt when she was with Blaise. She sat up suddenly – so she was alone with him right now, if she couldn't try and say something now when would she ever be able to? What was the worst thing that could happen? Utter humiliation and degradation. Well, she'd been there before so what the hell?

"Do you mind Blaise being friends with me?" She said the first thing that came into her head and she saw him hesitate before he turned to look at her.

"It's nothing to do with me who Blaise is friends with."

"But you must have an opinion. I know you can't be pleased about it."

"So there's your answer then." He turned his back on her again indicating the end of their conversation. Hermione sighed at her immediate failure.

"I've copied twenty, is that enough?" Draco asked, still with his back to her.

"Yes." Hermione kept her answer short and stood up, ready to leave.

"Would you like me to put them around the school?" He was looking at her now, the leaflets in his hand. Hermione nodded and turned to leave the room. All she wanted to do now was escape.

"Granger?"

Hermione turned round as she opened the door. "Yes?"

"Wait, I'll walk you back. It's late."

Hermione pulled a face at him. "Oh, don't bother with being polite now."

Suddenly Draco was next to her holding the door shut. "I don't mind you and Blaise being friends." He had jumped the conversation back unexpectedly and Hermione shook her head in bewilderment.

"Then why couldn't you have said that when I asked instead of being so rude?" Hermione could hear the whine in her voice and sighed again at how difficult everything was.

"Because I've spent six years being rude to you and it's a hard habit to break."

Hermione pushed his arm away from the door and opened it. "Tell you what then, let me know when you've managed it. Until then leave me alone."

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

She attended lessons the next day feeling utterly miserable. She had to face the fact that it was just too difficult to try and be friends with Draco, let alone anything else and the only solution to her predicament was for her to work really hard at ignoring her feelings for him. Blaise was waiting outside first lesson.

"So you and Draco have had a fall out?" he asked as she approached him.

Hermione was surprised that Draco had mentioned anything to Blaise. She couldn't imagine their conversation having any affect on him at all. She shrugged her shoulders.

"In order to fall out, Blaise you have to already be getting along with one another. Draco and I will never be able to do that, there is just too much history between us. So last night was just our usual conversation – he's rude to me, I get upset, he can't understand why I'm upset..." Hermione shrugged. Blaise was looking at her intently.

"Well, as much as I hate to take sides – why exactly are you so upset when he's rude to you? Isn't that exactly the same as the last 6 years?" Blaise was studying her. "Why don't you just tell him to get lost or punch him. That was how you dealt with him up until now."

Hermione sighed loudly. "Yeh, good point, why don't I do that?" she said this dejectedly and Blaise took her arm.

"Spill," he said this in a gossipy way and despite her bad mood Hermione found him amusing.

"You're acting like a girl." She pointed out to him but he just shrugged.

"Don't care. Now spill the beans."

"There aren't any beans."

"Yes there are. Why are you letting Draco get to you?" Blaise's handsome face suddenly creased into a frown. "Actually why is he letting you get to him? He was really worked up about it all earlier."

Hermione stared at him digesting this piece of information. So their disagreement had got Draco all upset as well? Blaise poked her in the arm.

"You like him don't you?"

Hermione looked down at the floor desperately trying to think of a clever answer to get her off the hook. Blaise could be worryingly observant and accurate sometimes.

"Hermione?"

"No...I mean...no..."

"That's a yes then." Blaise had an amused look on his face and Hermione gave into him. She felt she could tell him and it would be such a relief to tell someone. She'd toyed with telling Ginny so many times but every time she thought of Ginny she inevitably thought of Harry and she couldn't bring herself to do it.

"Yes, I do." Hermione heard her own voice saying the words but she felt like she was listening to someone else. "Stupidly I do like him and I have no idea why."

"Because he's a flirty, manipulative, arrogant git and girls find that attractive for some strange reason." Blaise grinned. "I say that as his best friend, of course."

Hermione laughed. "Glad you're not my best friend!" Her face suddenly changed to utter horror. "Oh my god! Do you think he knows and he's just playing along with me to make me feel bad?"

Blaise pulled a face. "No! Of course not."

"I feel like an idiot, Blaise. I mean he's spent the past six years trying to make my life a misery and I know he's changed but he's still so unpleasant to me so why the hell do I like him?"

"Don't worry about it, Hermione. I'm completely besotted with Ginny but she's still all loved up with Potter so what a waste of energy that is! But I can't stop." Blaise confessed without a hint of embarrassment and Hermione stared at him astonished.

"You like Ginny? Really? Oh dear."

"What a sad, sorry pair we are." Blaise said but he was grinning. "I mean you're great! Funny, sweet, kind, pretty...so why haven't I got a thing for you?"

Hermione smiled gently at him. "Thank you."

"What for?"

"Saying all those lovely things about me."

"You're welcome." Blaise put his arm around her shoulder. "How we meet later to wallow in our mutual misery?"

Hermione laughed and agreed.

**Interesting? So Blaise likes Ginny - wonder where that can go? And Hermione has confessed! Keep reading, hope it's enjoyable. Love your comments so please review x**


	8. Break ups and Plans

It was the first match of the Quidditch cup the next day and Hermione was being persuaded by Blaise to come and watch.

"You're a Committee member! It doesn't look good if you don't show any interest," he insisted. "I'm on a different team and I'm still going to watch."

"To watch Ginny, you mean." Hermione teased him with a grin which he returned.

"Yeh, I won't deny it. Watching her is all I can do so you won't be denying me that will you?" Blaise put on his most pathetic face and Hermione laughed. She touched his arm gently.

"You need to find someone else because Ginny won't be leaving Harry anytime soon." Hermione saw his face drop. "I'm not taking Harry's side or anything, in fact I think you'd be great together..." Blaise groaned loudly interrupting her sentence.

"Don't say that."

"Sorry. Anyway, it's best that you face facts and move on. Who else do you like? I could help you if you want."

Blaise burst out laughing. "You help me? With my love life? Really?"

Hermione folded her arms across her chest indignantly but she was smiling.

"Do it on your own then, you ungrateful git."

"Anyway, going back to the match, Draco is playing so you can have an eyeful." He grinned at her cheekily and she slapped him on the arm.

"That's not funny!" she was smiling as she said this "I'm going to wish I never told you."

"I'm glad you did." Blaise leant forward. "So how much exactly?"

"How much?"

"How much do you like him?"

"Are you asking me to rank it on a scale of 1 to 10 or something?" Hermione asked sarcastically.

"No. I mean if I told you that I don't think you're a hopeless case would you really be interested?" Blaise wiggled his eyebrows at her.

"Not a hopeless case? What do you mean?" Hermione's curiosity had got the best of her.

"I know you think he still hates you and he sometimes acts like he still does but I know Draco better than anyone else. I don't think he hates you at all." Blaise sat back in his chair and put his hands behind his head. "I think you intrigue and fascinate him."

"What?" Hermione actually laughed. "He thinks I'm one of the most boring people alive!"

"No he doesn't. That's what he wants you to think but you're a puzzle to him. You're clever and loyal and principled - all the things he admires but he can't bend you to his way of thinking at all and he's not used to that. He likes to get his own way and you won't let him. So he doesn't know how to deal with you and he deals with you the only way he knows how to – by being rude and mean."

"You mean he acts like a child!" Hermione grunted not having any sympathy for Draco's lack of ability to deal with her.

"Yes, I suppose that's right. But listen, Hermione what he'd really like is for you to admire him and appreciate him. He'd like you to be falling at his feet like every other female does. And if he knew you liked him..."

Hermione interrupted him quickly, wanting to make it clear that she wasn't giving him permission to let anything slip to Draco. "Which he won't will he?"

Blaise shook his head. "Not from me. You need to show him."

"It's impossible, he's so awful to try and talk to. I don't think we could have a civilized conversation about the weather! How on earth would I ever broach the subject of me liking him?"

"Which takes us full circle back to where I started the conversation. Let's say that tomorrow, Draco wakes up and decides he's madly in love with you and has to have you." Blaise grinned and Hermione giggled.

"Ridiculous but go on."

"Well if that happened, how would you feel? I'm asking is this just a crush? Do you just fancy the pants off him or do you actually like him?" Blaise opened his eyes and waited for her answer.

"You really are acting like a girl, Blaise. This is exactly the kind of conversation I'd have with Ginny."

"I'll take that as a compliment. Now answer the question."

Hermione bit her lip. "He's annoying and frustrating and arrogant and..."

"You really like him." Blaise finished her sentence for her with a smile and after a moment of hesitation Hermione nodded.

"Yeh, I really like him."

"In that case, we need a plan," Blaise said tapping his chin thoughtfully.

"We?"

"Yes, you've told me now, so I'm in on it. Plus, very conveniently I just happen to be his best friend. I will think of something."

Hermione wasn't sure if she should be happy or worried about this new development but one thing was sure, things were going to get very interesting.

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

As if things hadn't been strange enough already lately, when Hermione got back to the Common Room she found Ginny on her bed looking awful. It was obvious she'd been crying so Hermione went straight over to her. In reply to her questions, Ginny handed her a letter. It was from Harry and in it he very gently and very nicely told Ginny that they were over. It was a typical Harry approach, he was obviously trying to let her down in the kindest way possible but if Hermione still had him here the first thing she would have told him was that he couldn't dump Ginny by post!

"I'm so sorry, Ginny. It's a terrible shame."

Ginny sniffed loudly. "Yeh, I know."

"You shouldn't take this lying down. It could just be the distance and lack of contact. Arrange to meet him and you can..."

Ginny interrupted her. "No, Hermione. I don't want to do that."

"Why not? All couples have times where things aren't working out, it doesn't mean it's all over..."

"Yes, it does." Ginny sat up on the bed. "I don't want to be with him either."

Hermione stared at her for a moment, confused by this sudden turn of events.

"What do you mean? I thought you were head over heels."

Ginny sighed. "So did I but lately it's been so difficult. I mean, I never see him and his life is so different to mine now. I was feeling like it wasn't real any longer."

"I didn't know."

"No, because I was trying to convince myself that I was imagining things. I wanted Harry for six years and now I have him so I couldn't quite believe that I might not want him anymore. I was fooling myself and then two weeks ago Dean asked me out again..."

"Dean asked you out? He never did take your break up well did he?"

"I said no, of course but a little part of me wanted to say yes. Not because of Dean but just so I could have a proper relationship again, so I could go out with someone and see them all the time."

Hermione took Ginny's hand and squeezed it. "Get some sleep, you'll feel better tomorrow and we'll have another chat."

Hermione climbed into bed her mind racing. Life was funny sometimes because just when she'd found out that Blaise liked Ginny, she immediately finds out that Ginny is single again! A word sprung to her head – it was like it was fate. She let her mind go over Blaise's words about Draco not hating her and that little glimmer of hope hit her again. Only an hour ago she'd been telling Blaise to forget about Ginny because it would never happen! There was no guarantee that Ginny would like Blaise, of course but the possibility was there. Strange and unbelievable things happened sometimes, even to people like her.

**So Ginny is single again and Blaise has a plan! Things are heating up. Sorry no Draco this chapter...he'll be back next chapter and he's about to be a bit of a hero...please review...please...pretty please...x**


	9. Drama

The Quidditch match was about to start. She and Blaise were in the packed stand and she was pleased to see a real mixture of houses in the crowds. Draco and Ginny's team and their opponents were all warming up on their broomsticks and the excitement was building.

The match started and for once Hermione was drawn into it. She knew Draco and Ginny were good players but watching them play as a team she realised they weren't just good, they were brilliant. There matching speed and observation made them powerful team mates, able to pass and dodge and block almost in unison. Amazing.

"Bloody hell, they're good," Blaise said beside her, his eyes not leaving the match. There was a break in play and Blaise leant over and started to undo Hermione's cardigan. She put her hand over his to stop him.

"Why are you trying to undress me?"

"I'm wondering what you're wearing underneath."

"What? Why?"

"Is it decent?"

Hermione pulled a face at him. "Yes, of course it's decent. I'm not a slob you know."

"Good because I've arranged to meet Draco and Ginny down by the lake after the match."

Hermione turned in her seat to look at him. "You've done what?"

Blaise grinned at her indignant expression. "You heard me."

"Well, I won't be coming." Hermione turned back to the match.

"Yeh, you will." Blaise also turned back to the match. "Bloody hell, that idiot nearly knocked Ginny off her broom then!"

"I'm not coming. I mean what possible reason would there be for us all to meet after the match? I hope you have not been blabbing, Blaise." Hermione looked at him again.

"Of course I haven't! I told Draco that I wanted to ask Ginny out but I knew she wouldn't come without you. So I asked if he'd come along as well, just this once."

Hermione turned in her seat again. "Blaise! That sounds distinctly like a set-up to me. Are you telling me Draco agreed to this? What did you have to do to in return?"

"Calm down! He agreed quite readily actually. In fact he seemed perfectly happy about it."

"I don't believe you."

"I don't care what you believe. You're coming with me even if I have to drag you there by your hair." Blaise flashed a grin at her as he said this, taking the sting out of his words.

"And what did you tell Ginny? Did you ask her out?"

"No, not yet. I'm going to though, I still can't believe she's split with Potter!" Blaise did a little excited shuffle. "I told Ginny that I thought it was about time you and Draco started putting the past behind you and she offered to help me with getting you two to get along better."

Hermione put her head in her hands and groaned. "I can't believe you've done all that!"

"You're welcome."

"I didn't mean I'm grateful!" Hermione hit his arm. "God, you're annoying."

Blaise took absolutely no offence to this, knowing she didn't mean it. "God, you're a moaner."

The crowd cheered and they both realised the match was over. Draco and Ginny were flying around the stadium, victorious. Blaise grabbed her hand and practically dragged her with him down to where the teams were going to get changed.

"I'm going to go in for a minute," he pointed at the boys changing room. "Don't you dare think about not being here when I get back."

"Okay, quit on about it, I'll be here." Hermione sighed.

She gazed around the stadium and at the happy faces of the crowd, heading back to the Castle and felt quite proud of herself and the rest of the committee. The whole house unity thing seemed to be working. She remembered this was Draco's idea and she reluctantly admitted it was a good one. She seemed to have been waiting for ages when the door opened and she turned around expecting to see Blaise. Instead she came face to face with Draco. His hair was damp as he had obviously just had a shower, his skin was glowing and his clothes looked pristine as always. With a supreme effort and still riding on the exhilaration of the match going so well, Hermione tried to be friendly.

"Well done on winning. It all went really well, it was a good idea."

Draco smiled at her, a proper smile. "Of course we did, of course it did and of course it was."

It was a very amusing and witty answer and to her own surprise Hermione actually laughed. He was an arrogant git but his reply was very clever and funny. It was the first time she was aware of his sense of humour.

"Are we all still going to the lake?"

Draco nodded. "Yes..." he paused for a second before continuing. "Has Blaise told you all about Ginny?" Hermione nodded. "So are you okay if we leave them alone for a while? We could just take a little walk for ten minutes..." Draco watched her assessing her reaction.

"Oh...errr...yes." Hermione stumbled over her words, firstly at the thought of spending time alone with Draco and secondly she was surprised by Draco's thoughtfulness and willingness to help his friend's quest to go out with Harry Potter's very recently ex-girlfriend. Before she could engage her brain to give him a more coherent answer a loud, grinding, screeching sound interrupted her thoughts. She met Draco's puzzled gaze and they both stepped backwards, looking upwards to where the sound was coming from.

It was dusk now and for a moment Hermione couldn't see properly what was making the noise. The next moment she heard Draco shout and she felt herself being pulled towards him. It took a moment to register that it was actually Draco pulling her against him until she felt his hand on her arm and waist. He grasped her right against him and then she felt him bend them both over and place his arms over her head.

Things happened quickly then, she heard Blaise and Ginny yelling at them, the air seemed to go black around her and then she felt Draco and herself being pushed by a huge weight and her legs crumbled beneath her. The next thing she knew, she was on the ground, Draco was on top of her and she felt like she couldn't breathe. Just as she was about to panic she felt the weight lift and was faced with Blaise and Ginny bending over them anxiously.

"Draco...Hermione...are you okay?" Ginny was asking urgently.

Hermione sat up and moved her head and neck then she nodded. "I'm fine, I think. What happened?"

Ginny nodded towards the large scoreboard which was now lying on the floor, bent and battered. "It fell down off the side of the building. I tried to stop it with magic but I was at the wrong angle and the spell didn't work. We had to watch as it landed on Draco and you. Good thing Draco noticed and managed to protect you both."

"Bloody hero I am..." A far less smooth than usual voice mumbled from next to them and Hermione glanced over to see Draco prostrate on the floor, holding his head. Blaise was bent over him waving his wand at Draco's forehead.

"Is he okay?" Ginny asked before Hermione could get the words out.

"Yeh, he's just a bloody attention seeker." Blaise answered with a grin. Then slightly more seriously he looked back at Draco. "He cut his head and this spell isn't fixing it as quickly as I'd like."

Hermione shuffled closer to the boys and watched Blaise sealing Draco's cut. It was quite large and deep and Blaise wasn't doing a particularly good job at mending the skin. She felt around for her wand.

"Move over, Blaise. Let me do it." She waved her wand over Draco's forehead and immediately the skin began knitting together.

"Show off." Blaise mumbled from behind her.

Hermione was concentrating hard on Draco's cut but she was acutely aware of his eyes watching her intently. The cut was deep and she was beginning to wonder if she could seal it or if it was going to be a trip to Madam Pomfrey. She leant further over Draco so she had a clearer view of the cut, she could almost feel his breath on her face and his wonderful scent was washing over her. At last she was satisfied it was fixed so she sat back on her heels and met her patients eyes.

"How does it feel now?" she asked.

Draco touched his head carefully. "It feels fine."

"Good."

Draco went to sit up and without thinking Hermione grabbed his arm to help pull him up and there it was again that jittery feeling in her stomach. His eyes seemed to be glued to hers and she suddenly felt embarrassed and turned away.

They all turned to look at the scoreboard. Blaise moved it against the wall with his wand.

"It's huge, it could have killed you!" Ginny said.

"We'll tell McGonagall before we go back to our Common Rooms." Blaise said. He glanced over at Draco and Hermione. "Do you want to go straight back now? After all that drama?"

Hermione was about to answer but Draco got in first. "No, I'm fine let's go to the lake as planned."

**Next chapter by the lake - think you'll like it - it's my favourite one I've written so far. Hope you liked this one - loving the reviews and as usual I want more! x**


	10. Something in the air

The four of them walked round to the lake and over to the east side of it. There were benches there so they took a seat and admired the view. It was almost dark and the lake was lit by a few lights so it all looked very beautiful. The conversation so far had involved all four of them and had mainly been about the near miss she and Draco had just had.

After a few minutes sitting, Draco rose, came over to Hermione and offered her his hand. She stared at it in amazement for a moment wondering what he was doing and then as soon as he spoke she remembered.

"Fancy a walk?"

"Err...yes.."

Blaise was looking at the pair of them and grinning, knowing full well what they were up to on his behalf. Ginny however was grinning for an entirely different reason thinking that Draco was wanting to be alone with Hermione.

Hermione and Draco headed off walking quite briskly until they were out of sight of the other two. Hermione just wanted this to be over now because as much as she wanted to be alone with Draco, the moment she was she felt awkward and embarrassed.

"So what happened between Ginny and Potter then? Did she finally come to her senses?" Draco's voice broke into her thoughts.

"Oh here we go! Why can't you just leave Harry alone?" Hermione felt annoyed at Draco's constant insistence on berating Harry.

"Sorry, forgot you're his greatest admirer." Draco's voice was sarcastic.

"What is your problem with him? All he's ever done is try and deal with the situation he was placed in." Hermione sighed. "Anyway, we are just going over old ground so let's drop it."

"Someone's on their best behaviour, you'd normally be stamping your feet and yelling at me now." Draco looked at her from the corner off his eye. "Lost your fight?"

"Why is it we can't have a normal conversation?" Hermione shook her head. "Don't say it has nothing to do with the fact it's me you're talking to. You hated Ginny just as much as me and yet I've heared the way you talk to her lately and it's all become perfectly pleasant and amicable."

"She's easy to talk to." Draco gave one of his usual, annoyingly straight and short answers.

"And I'm not?"

"No. You're uptight about almost everything."

"Uptight!"

Draco stopped walking and turned to look at Hermione. "You're better than you used to be but I can't mention anything without it winding you up in some way or other. I mean, I point out that you like books and get a mouthful about you still having a life..."

"You didn't say it like that! You're making it sound as if you were friendly about it. What you actually said was – is that all you think about, Granger?" Hermione impersonated him badly. "When you phrase it like that, like a criticism, how exactly do you expect me to respond?"

"You're just touchy about everything."

"Well you're rude and ignorant and half the time you treat me like I'm some sort of an inferior being." Hermione thrust her finger at him. "Oh! Silly me, I forgot – of course I am an inferior being. I'm a Mudblood after all!"

With this she turned on her heel and practically sprinted away from him towards the castle. She didn't care about helping Blaise and Ginny. Right now she just had to get away from him.

"Granger!"

She heard him behind her, calling her name but she just quickened her pace and ignored him. She could hear him catching her up but she didn't stop. He could run along beside her for all she cared, she'd had enough. She felt a hand on her arm and shook him off.

"Please stop." He was right next to her now, easily keeping up.

Again she ignored him and continued walking.

"Hermione...please."

Her name coming from his lips made her stop in her tracks and he stood alongside her again, grabbing her wrist. She turned to look at him, breathing deeply.

"I really do not think like that any longer," he said referring to her Mudblood comment. When she didn't look convinced her repeated. "Really I don't. Look, we're supposed to be helping Blaise so please don't go running off or Ginny will get all upset and then Blaise will kill me."

She could tell he was joking and using this as an excuse to make her stay but she still felt mad at him.

"Do you think you'll be able to stand being with someone as uptight as me for any longer?" Hermione knew this was petty but she couldn't help it.

"Yeh, I phrased that badly," Draco said looking slightly embarrassed and Hermione stared at him in surprise not quite sure what to think and then she noticed that his forehead was bleeding again. Without thinking she put her hand up and touched it gently and she saw a look of total astonishment pass over Draco's face.

"You're bleeding again. Bend down so I can see properly." Hermione offered the explanation for her actions. Draco did as she asked and she examined his head again. "I think it's okay, it's just a tiny part of the cut. Let me try again." She repeated the process from earlier and nodded. "Yes, I think it's fine now." She stood back from him and he straightened up.

"Thank you."

Hermione felt her stomach do a complete flip at these two simple words. That was the point though, they weren't so simple when spoken by Draco Malfoy who was never gracious or appreciative of anything she did.

"And earlier...if I'd been left to Blaise I would have bled to death by now." Draco gave her a small smile but she didn't return it. She then realised she hadn't even thanked him for protecting her earlier.

"You shielded me from the Scoreboard, I could hardly let Blaise butcher you," she paused for a moment. "but believe me, I was tempted."

Draco smiled at her, knowing from her tone that she was joking. He nodded his head back towards the lake. "So, which way are you going? Lake or Castle?"

Hermione hated herself as she answered but she couldn't refuse him. "Lake."

"'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Hermione and Draco were right on the opposite side of the lake now. They hadn't spoken during their walk but it hadn't been awkward. Hermione stopped and looked towards Blaise and Ginny who were looking at her and they waved.

"I wonder how many times Ginny had to ask him out before he agreed?" Draco's voice came from behind her. She turned to face him, puzzled.

"What? I thought Blaise was asking her."

Draco smirked at her. "Yes, he was. But as he can talk the birds out of the trees he will have managed to turn the entire scenario around until she thinks she asked him. He likes to let them think he's doing them a favour rather than the other way round."

Hermione shook her head."Really? Maybe I'll have to put Ginny in the picture later then. I can't stand by and let my friend be manipulated."

"There you go again, Miss Goody Two Shoes. It's all in a good cause, he means no harm."

Hermione glared at him, ready to jump to her own defence when she realised he was grinning at her. He was teasing her! He held up his hands to demonstrate he was only joking. Draco Malfoy was joking! What the hell had come over him?

"We should go back, it's getting late," Draco said then he stopped as he saw Hermione shiver. "Are you cold?"

"A little bit. I'm fine."

Draco stopped and looked her up and down. "Girls wear some really ridiculous clothes sometimes. You're cardigan is really thin!"

"It's meant to be delicate." She screwed her eyes up a little. "Please tell me you're not thinking of offering me your cloak because that would just be too weird! Come on, I'm fine let's go." Hermione went to move off again but he stopped her and pointed at his shirt.

"As I'm not wearing a cloak, you're safe. After our stunning performance in class the other day, how about we Transfigure you a cloak instead?" He raised his eyebrows at her and she looked down at her cardigan then back up at him.

"Do you think we'll be able to do it?"

"Of course we will if we concentrate. Come closer and give me your hand." Draco grabbed her unceremoniously, oblivious to the effect he was having on her, his focus entirely on the spell they were about to do. He took his wand and aimed it at her, holding her hand with his spare one and locking his eyes to hers.

"After 3 - 1...2...3..."

Nothing happened and Hermione let go of his hand.

"Come on, let's try again. Come closer." He took her hand again and pulled her closer and Hermione felt her breathing go up a notch. Being this close to him wasn't good for her especially when he was holding her hand and gazing into her eyes. She felt a tingle run up her arm and she had to really concentrate to keep her focus on the spell. They tried again and failed.

"Come on, it's not worth the trouble." Hermione insisted stepping back again.

"Will you stop moving away! We know we can do this, now look at me properly." Draco pulled her back to him again and turned his breathtaking eyes back onto her. "Come on, Hermione. This gives you the perfect excuse to stare at me."

"Very funny," she answered quickly but she had noticed the use of her first name again.

They tried again and suddenly Hermione felt a warm glow around her shoulders and she looked down to see a large, thick, black cloak around her shoulders. Draco was chuckling and she couldn't help but smile at him.

"I don't think I'll ever get tired of doing that," he said. Suddenly his face changed and he seemed to be staring at her again. Hermione felt her breath catch in her throat as they both stood completely still, staring at each other. They were still ridiculously close and still holding hands. Hermione felt herself lean forward unconsciously, drawn in by his stunning eyes, his lips, his hair flopping over his eyes. And then Draco's eyes moved from hers to glance down, just for a moment at her lips. Hermione thought she might faint on the spot if he moved any closer or stared at her like this for a moment longer.

Then he stepped away and ran his hands through his hair. She bit her lip nervously, worried that he might turn the whole thing round on her. Instead he looked up at her a thoughtful expression on his face.

"We should go back now."

Hermione nodded and they made their way back to the others, both lost in their own thoughts.

**Aaah! At last a nice bit of Draco/Hermione, I enjoyed writing this, it was nice to move them along a little and there's nothing like a nice bit of sexual chemistry is there? Hope you liked it...please review...let me know how you think it's going so far and what you think of Draco and Hermione who are hopefully still in character. x**


	11. Scar

Hermione entered the Potions class the next day not really knowing how she felt. She felt removed from the events of last night, as if they had happened to someone else. She dared to look round the classroom as she took her seat and was rewarded with a huge grin from Blaise and a smirk from Draco which made her blush.

She and Ginny had chatted in whispers until really late last night. Ginny and Blaise had their first date in two days time and Ginny was a grinning from ear to ear.

"Since when did you fancy Blaise Zabini?" Hermione teased her.

"I didn't know I did, Hermione," Ginny said with a sheepish grin. "But don't try to tell me you don't appreciate his charms, you're the one who's been best buddies with him for weeks now."

Hermione smiled back at her. "Yes, he's great."

Ginny leant forward. "So, do you have something to tell me about Draco then?"

Hermione shook her head vehemently. "Oh no! Definitely not."

"You were ages walking around the lake – with Draco Malfoy!" Ginny emphasised his name suggestively.

"Only to allow Blaise to work his charms on you." Hermione pointed out. "Draco and I just about managed a civilized conversation and that was about it."

"Oh? Draco and you? As oppose to Malfoy and you? Since when did he become Draco?" Ginny picked up immediately on Hermione's use of his first name.

"Since I started hanging around with Blaise! I've picked it up off him." Hermione said, perfectly honestly. Ginny narrowed her eyes suspiciously at her friend.

"You're not telling me something."

"You've got an overactive imagination."

"You're a bad liar"

"You're imagining everyone is as loved up as you are."

The girls both giggled at their little exchange and had continued laughing until they decided it was time to sleep.

So, Potions class seemed more difficult than usual for Hermione this morning. She yawned loudly and received a glare from Professor Snape. She was glad when it was over and she hurried out the door. She then heard footsteps behind her and turned to see Draco striding up to her.

"Hey."

"Hey."

They stared at each other for a minute then Draco cleared his throat.

"Are you coming to watch Blaise in his match tonight?" Draco was speaking normally for once, seemingly at ease.

"Yes, I'm coming with Ginny."

"So do you girls fancy sitting with me?" He gave her a smirk but it lacked its usual arrogance.

Hermione was surprised but she tried to hide it and she put her head to one side. "Not particularly but if you're sad and lonely you can sit with us." She tried not to grin at her own wittiness. Draco's small change in attitude, she had no idea whether it would be permanent or not, made her feel more confident about teasing him. He pulled a face at her.

"Very funny, Granger."

"Oh it's Granger again is it?" she didn't mean to say this not wanting to draw his attention to the fact that she'd noticed him using her first name. Draco raised his eyebrows at her.

"Would you like me to call you Hermione?"

Hermione wished she hadn't mentioned anything because she could tell he wasn't going to let this go now. She tried to shrug casually but his smirk just widened and he put his hand to his ear mockingly.

"Sorry, I didn't hear your answer."

"I don't care what you call me." Hermione answered him clearly and defiantly. She waited for his cutting and condescending remark but instead he stepped closer and lowered his voice.

"Well you should care, Hermione." He emphasised her name, making it sound amazing. He said it on a breath of air, like music. "It suits you and you shouldn't let me call you Granger."

His words sent shivers through her but she gathered herself, determined to not let him keep getting the upper hand. "See you later then, Malfoy. Don't be late, we want to get good seats." She tried not to giggle as she purposely used his surname and she turned quickly and walked away. She waited until she was out of view before she stopped and leant against the wall. Draco Malfoy had just asked to sit by them tonight!

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

The three of them were watching the game, Ginny and Draco analysing the play. This went entirely over Hermione's head but she didn't mind. She was enjoying the three of them being together and feeling relaxed. For some inexplicable reason it didn't feel awkward to be sitting next to Draco watching Blaise play Quidditch.

Draco dropped his bottle of water on the floor and bent down to retrieve it. His hair flopped to one side and Hermione noticed a small, white scar where his cut had been.

"Oh my god, Draco! You have a scar," she exclaimed, feeling mortified.

He touched his head. "Oh yes, I know." He didn't seem bothered but Hermione felt awful. She put her hand to her mouth, her eyes wide.

"Oh god it's my fault, I'm so sorry! You should go to Madame Pomfrey, she might be able to do something with it."

"I did and she can't." Draco gave his usual blunt answer but he then grinned at her as she looked even more horrified. "She did tell me that you'd done an excellent job and that I was always going to be left with a scar, whoever had done the healing."

Hermione bit her lip, relief washing over her. "Really? You're not just telling me that to make me feel better?"

Draco threw his head back and laughed. "Exactly when did I start saying things in order to make you feel better, Granger?"

Hermione gave a little smile at the irony. "Yeh, stupid question, I shouldn't have asked, Malfoy."

They watched the rest of the game but Hermione couldn't stop glancing at Draco's scar. Was he now perfection, spoilt? He didn't seem in the least bit bothered which surprised her. For someone so aware of his appearance he was taking a permanent mark to it very well indeed.

Blaise won his match and they made their way down to meet him outside the changing room. He came out with a huge grin on his face and instantly gathered a surprised Ginny into his arms. Draco made a gagging noise but he was grinning at his friend while he did it. Watching this exchange it concerned Hermione that the more relaxed Draco seemed to be around her, the more she began to see more sides of his personality, ones that she didn't know existed. Ones she liked, a lot. Hermione knew things were changing and she felt a mixture of apprehension and exhilaration. She also knew that things could change back to how they had been in a second. She felt someone tugging on her arm and turned to see Draco nodding his head at Blaise and Ginny.

"Come on, Hermione. Let's leave these two alone for a while."

Hermione felt her whole body tingle as he spoke, using her first name again. Her already overwhelming emotions were in danger of rocketing out of control. Draco was managing to hook her completely. His little shift in attitude was allowing her to justify her feelings for him. And now, he was watching out for his friend again, he was touching her, he was calling her Hermione and more than any of that he was speaking to her with respect. He was treating her like they were friends. So she followed him without protest back towards the castle. As they approached the large entrance doors Draco stopped for a moment.

"So how do you feel about those two then?"

"Blaise and Ginny?"

"Yes, Blaise and Ginny."

Hermione frowned. "It's good. They're great together." She thought for a moment before adding cautiously, "I just hope Ginny isn't jumping into anything too quickly so soon after Harry but I don't think anyone can blame her. I mean what girl wouldn't be charmed by Blaise?" Before Draco could say anything Hermione held up her hand to him. "Oh sorry! I said the 'H' word. Just pretend you didn't hear it."

Draco chuckled at her sarcasm and yet again she marvelled at how normal he could be. It suddenly occurred to her that she was being more normal too. She would never have dreamed of being sarcastic with him even a few days ago but somehow she knew he would be receptive to it now.

"And what about you?" Draco asked quietly.

"What about me?"

"Do you wish Blaise was using his charms on you rather than Ginny?" Draco was still speaking quietly and Hermione watched him with interest. She didn't dare to believe that his question implied anything other than curiosity.

"Me? No! We're friends."

Draco nodded his head but didn't respond other than a quick, "Good. Goodnight, Granger."

**It's warming up. I know it's slow but I hate stories where they go from enemies to friends after about two sentences. I know this is fiction but it really would never happen that quickly - especially with Draco and Hermione who have all that bad history to get over. Hope it's about the right speed, the teasing is almost as good as when they finally admit their feelings anyway. Let me know if you agree and if you like this slightly hesitant and changeable Draco...thanks for reviewing. x**


	12. Sticky

The Quidditch matches were going well. Hermione was surprised just how well it had all worked out. The school seemed to be really getting behind the teams as the competition progressed and there was a buzz about the games.

She'd watched every game that Blaise, Ginny and Draco had played in and in next match, which was the semi-final they were due to meet one another. How the hell was she supposed to cheer in that game? She decided to worry about that when it happened.

After dinner, Hermione helped Ginny get ready for her first date with Blaise then sent her off to meet him. She then felt suddenly at a lose end and decided to get out of the Common Room for some fresh air. It had been a busy few days with Committee stuff, Quidditch, almost being flattened by a giant scoreboard and some interesting interactions with a certain Mr Malfoy.

Hermione grabbed a light jacket, descended the stairs to the Common Room and stepped out into the corridor. As she lifted her head she almost jumped out of her skin because someone was standing by the wall. That someone was Draco Malfoy.

Hermione put her hand to her chest and took a steadying breath. "Oh my god! You scared me to death!"

Draco looked very far removed from his usual, confident self. He was shuffling about uncomfortably and he wouldn't look her directly in the eye.

"Sorry." His reply was a mumble.

"I was going to get some air," Hermione said, feeling the need to explain where she was going and not knowing why. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." He still wasn't looking at her and he didn't seem to be in any hurry to offer her an explanation to his presence in the corridor.

"Right then... I'll see you." Hermione had no idea what to say and Draco was just standing there so she had no choice but to carry on along the corridor as she had intended. She glanced behind her as she rounded the corner but Draco was gone.

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

According to Ginny, her date with Blaise had gone really well. It was the semi-final Quidditch match tonight so their next date would be the following evening. Hermione was really pleased for her friend but their relationship seemed to be on fast forward and it took a bit of getting used to. There was also another implication of them seeing each other and that was that she and Draco would inevitably have more contact as well. She had no idea what Draco's strange behaviour was all about last night, she'd never seen him acting so nervous and uncomfortable and she was almost tempted to ask him about it today. Almost. She had dared to think that he might have been coming to see her but she couldn't think why and if this was the case then that didn't explain his strange behaviour. If he was coming to see her then why didn't he just say that when she appeared in the corridor?

Potions was first lesson and Hermione was the first one there. She took her usual seat and started to open her book when Professor Snape stopped her.

"Put the books away, Miss Granger. You're moving seats today."

Hermione did as she was told and waited patiently for further explanation. Once the rest of the class arrived, Professor Snape explained that they would today be making a potion called Everglue.

"This potion works exactly the same as glue except it can only be used on living objects including wizards. It won't stick any inanimate objects to each other but it will stick a living being to them. If a wizard touches the potion and then paper or wood or anything they will be stuck. It can be mixed to any strength. At its weakest it will hold most fully grown adults as long as they don't struggle against it. At its strongest it can hold almost anything. It is even used by Dragon keepers to restrain the Dragons."

Professor Snape had Hermione's full attention as she knew nothing of this potion.

"The special property of Everglue is that, even at its strongest, it can instantly be made dry and smooth, therefore releasing the animal or person." Snape looked around the class. "As you make the potion you will add an ingredient of your own choice. The name of this ingredient will become the Spell word used to dry the glue. I cannot stress this point enough so please listen carefully. Only the person who makes the potion can use the spell word to release the grip of the glue. If that person forgets the spell word or cannot perform the spell then there is no way to release anyone from it."

The class was silent now, each pupil listening intently to every word.

Professor Snape gazed down his nose at them. "The safest way to try this potion is on a small creature like a mouse. Unfortunately, the small creatures have a tendency to try and wriggle free and we have had several incidents with them removing limbs in attempts to escape."

Several girls made noises at this piece of information but Professor Snape ignored them.

"Therefore we must test your potions on each other. I trust you all have the common sense to not repeat the actions of the mice?" Professor Snape didn't look convinced that this was the case but he wasn't waiting for an answer so he continued. "I will not be able to release anyone if this potion is not mixed correctly so I am going to split you into ability groups. The strength of the potion made will match accordingly. This should reduce the risk of any permanent fixings yet still allow you to mix potion that actually works. Have I made myself clear?"

The class nodded and Professor Snape began reading out names. Hermione was not surprised to be placed with Ginny, Blaise, Draco and Anthony. They were given the recipe for the higher strength potion and they all began working on their own cauldron. It was a complicated and intricate potion and it required concentration so they all worked silently.

After about ten minutes Hermione heard a few noises from the next table. She ignored them as best she could because she was at a particularly intricate part of her potion but the noise got louder and she had to look up. Theo's cauldron was popping loudly and bubbles of his potion were beginning to shoot up in the air making the other students on his table screech and dodge them. By now the whole class was watching and Professor Snape had come over and was waving his wand over Theo's cauldron.

Suddenly the cauldron started to shake and with a loud pop a huge globule of potion shot up into the air sending students screaming and ducking. Theo stepped backwards and he lost his balance falling heavily against Ginny who was standing behind him. Ginny fell forward onto the table knocking first Hermione's then Draco's cauldron's off their stands, their contents spewing over the table. Ginny was unable to avoid the mixture and within a second she was stuck to the table. Blaise, seeing what was happening made a grab for her but he missed and ended up with one hand stuck to the table. Hermione watched them both in horror. Not only were they stuck to the table, they were stuck with a mixture of her own and Draco's potions and she had no idea what the implication of this was. She just knew it couldn't be good.

**I know that the Glue took up a lot of this chapter but please bear with me I am going somewhere with this, you will see next chapter. Anyway, hope you liked it - please review x**


	13. Advanced magic

The Potions class had descended into chaos with Professor Snape still trying to calm down pupils on Theo's table and Theo's cauldron still hissing.

"I'm stuck, my whole arm!" There was definitely panic in Ginny's voice.

"I know, just keep still until we can get Professor Snape over here." Hermione said.

"Oh my god! I'm thinking about the mice." Ginny's voice had risen and Hermione went over to her.

"Just keep still."

It seemed to take an eternity but eventually Professor Snape got Theo's cauldron under control. Amazingly no-one on his table had been hit with the potion but a couple of the girls were sobbing hysterically. Hermione, who had no patience with over-dramatics, wanted to go over and tell them to shut up but she needed to help Ginny and Blaise so she called Snape over.

He looked at the table then at Hermione and she immediately knew that she would be getting the majority of the blame for this, despite her having nothing whatsoever to do with it.

"Did you not listen to me at the beginning of the lesson, Miss Granger?" Snape's voice was scathing.

"I did listen, sir. Ginny fell against the cauldrons when Theo stepped backwards. It was nothing to do with me." Hermione defended herself indignantly.

"Cauldrons? Is this or is this not your potion?" Snape asked her.

"It's mine too, sir." Draco answered.

Snape stared at the table again then back at Draco.

"Mmm...potions mixed together. Well, this may be tricky. Let us hope that you and Miss Granger are able to live up to your reputations of being the best students in the school." Snape's tone indicated that he didn't hold out much hope. Ginny made a little whimpering sound and Blaise groaned neither of them liking the sound of this. "Had you already added your special ingredient?"

Draco and Hermione nodded.

"Well then, there is nothing I can do. It will be down to the pair of you." Snape inspected Ginny cautiously but she was well and truly stuck. The class was in silence now, everyone watching the drama unfold and Hermione felt extremely uncomfortable. How had this suddenly become all about her and Draco again? What if they couldn't lift the spell? "You will need to say the spell words exactly together."

Hermione looked down at the floor and she heard Draco sigh loudly.

"Try to release Miss Weasley first as she appears far more uncomfortable than Mr Zabini. Raise your wands, point directly at the point where she is stuck and say the words together." Snape instructed.

Draco and Hermione did as they were told. They raised their wands and pointed and then both spoke together. Nothing happened.

"It must be exactly together." Snape said and Hermione wanted to shout at him that he wasn't exactly being very helpful.

"How are we supposed to say two totally different words at exactly the same time?" Hermione couldn't keep the accusing tone out of her voice.

"Don't use that tone with me, Miss Granger." Snape turned on her. "Now try again, this time exactly together."

Hermione bit her lip wanting to answer him back but knowing it was pointless. She then felt Draco's hand on her arm.

"Let's do it like the Transfiguration spell. After 3." Draco spoke directly to Hermione as if they were the only two in the room. Something about his tone and attitude seemed to say – ignore Snape, we can do this without his help.

They raised their wands again and Draco counted. "1...2...3."

Again nothing happened and Hermione felt a wave of panic wash over her. What if they really couldn't do this? Ginny was looking up at her anxiously so she took a deep breath and indicated to Draco for them to try again. Again it didn't work. Professor Snape had stepped backwards and Hermione could tell that he was beginning to worry that they may not be able to do it. He clapped his hands loudly.

"Class dismissed. Go straight back to your Common Room until next lesson." He waved his hand at the rest of the class that seemed reluctant to move. "Now! We need to concentrate on freeing Miss Weasley and Mr Zabini."

After the room had cleared Snape approached them again and Hermione noticed a slight change in his tone when he spoke.

"Mr Malfoy, Miss Granger – this is advanced magic. It is a difficult spell and this is not an ideal situation to try and do it for the first time but I'm sure you are both perfectly capable of doing it. You just need to concentrate on each other, now try again."

Hermione was about to wave her wand but she felt Draco's hand on her arm again. She turned to look at him and immediately knew from the look on his face that this time he was determined they would do it.

"Look at me, just like we do for the other spell. I'll hold your arm and on 3 I will let it go, that's when we speak." Draco's eyes had locked with hers and Hermione felt the now increasingly familiar tingling feeling as they became totally absorbed in one another. Draco nodded his head and she saw him mouth 1...2...3. They said the spell words again and as soon as the words left their lips Ginny and Blaise were free. Ginny looked so relieved that Hermione gave her a hug.

"Well done Miss Granger, Mr Malfoy."

Hermione nearly dropped on the spot as for the first time ever Professor Snape praised her. The tingling she had felt whilst doing the spell with Draco hadn't stopped because she knew today had been different. The connection she had felt to Draco hadn't just been about the spell and for once she was sure it wasn't just her feeling this way. While Professor Snape examined Ginny and Blaise, she glanced over at Draco and he was already looking her way. He gave her a small smile and she returned it.

When they finally left the classroom the four of them went straight outside, skipping lunch, all of them needing to talk about what happened.

"What a ridiculously dangerous potion to get us to try!" Ginny exclaimed. "We could have been permanently stuck to the desk!"

"We would have brought you a bucket to pee in," Draco said with a grin and she slapped him.

"You would have been more concerned later when I couldn't lead the team to victory," Ginny said.

Draco pulled a face at her. "You won't be leading the team, Weasley."

"And it won't be victory for you either," Blaise added. "Because my team will be the winners."

Hermione chuckled at this exchange and Blaise turned to her.

"I hope you'll remember where your loyalties lie later. We are on the committee together."

Hermione laughed again. "Don't drag me into this. I'm just an innocent bystander."

"Anyway, being on a committee together hardly stands up against being best friends for six years," Ginny said. "I'm sure Hermione knows who she should be supporting."

Hermione sighed loudly. "Why don't you all put me under pressure? I can't win, whatever I do! Maybe it would be best if I don't come."

"No!"

"You have to come."

Hermione held up her hands. "Okay, okay. Of course I'm going to watch you all. I hope you all play well."

Draco snorted at her and she stopped and stared at him.

"What?"

He raised his eyes to the sky. "What a pathetic non-committal answer that was. Where's your backbone? Pick a team to support." Hermione glared at him but he didn't falter and to her surprise he gently nudged her shoulder.

"I can't pick! Don't you start pressurising me as well," Hermione protested.

Draco held up his hand. "Well I would have thought you could cheer for the one person who can do all this ridiculously difficult magic with you..."

"That's a partnership! We both contribute evenly, it doesn't hold any sway." Hermione knew he was only feigning offence so she played along.

Draco leant closer to her and she looked up at him. "If our special connection..." he emphasized the words, "means that little to you, then go cheer for someone else. See if I care!"

Blaise and Ginny chuckled and Hermione couldn't help but smile at him. He was being very funny, so light hearted and teasing but in the nicest way. She felt a wave of pure, raw emotion wash over her and it scared her to death. She knew she was falling for him and if he kept behaving like this there would be nothing she could do about it.

**Let me know what you think and I have to say an extra big thank you for the great reviews - x**


	14. After Quidditch

She had a great seat to watch the match and she could feel the excitement buzzing around the stadium. The teams had just come out and she watched as they warmed up. Both teams were good and the speed they flew around the stadium was breathtaking.

Play started and Hermione was drawn into the game. It was difficult to watch because she wanted all of them to do well so she couldn't really cheer for either team. She watched Draco for a moment, he was hovering at one end, his eyes scanning for the Snitch. She knew hers wouldn't be the only eyes on him because he looked so incredible in his Quidditch kit, his back straight, his eyes alert. The way he was making her feel was scaring her. He was being so much more friendly, his stand offish attitude had all but disappeared. The way he had teased her earlier had made her want to melt as it was so gentle and sweet. She shook herself and tried to concentrate on the match, knowing that swooning over Draco would not help anything.

Ginny and Draco were proving a deadly combination and their team was moving ahead. Hermione watched Blaise for a few moments. He was obviously trying to get his team moving as he was flying around like a mad man. Time was running out and it looked like Ginny and Draco would be victorious until there was suddenly a deafening scream and Hermione scanned the players and saw that the Seeker on Blaise team was riding around waving his hands in the air, hands that contained the Snitch. Blaise team had won.

Hermione waited a few minutes then made her way down to by the changing rooms to wait for her friends. Blaise appeared first with his jubilant team and he grabbed Hermione, swinging her around and making her squeal. A few moments later Draco and Ginny appeared obviously in a far less exuberant fashion. Blaise came over and shook Draco's hand and Hermione was pleased to see Draco smiling. Blaise then grabbed Ginny and kissed her full on the lips bringing jeers and wolf whistles from his team mates. When he released her, Ginny was bright red but smiling.

"Hey, we're going to hang around here for a while. We'll make too much noise at the Castle. I know you lost but you're all welcome to stay." Blaise offered and looked round at them.

"If this is semi-final celebrations I wonder what you'll do if you win the final!" Hermione said with a smirk. "Thanks for the offer but I'm going to head back."

"Do you mind if I stay?" Ginny asked Hermione.

"Of course I don't."

"Draco?" Blaise asked his friend but Draco shook his head.

"No but you go and celebrate."

Ginny and Blaise took each others' hands and walked after the rest of the team. This left Draco and Hermione alone, again.

"This is becoming a nasty habit, Granger." Draco said putting Hermione's own thoughts into words.

"Hermione," Hermione corrected him.

Draco put his head to one side. "Oh yes, I did tell you to correct me didn't I? Aren't you going to ask me what the nasty habit is?"

"No, I know what it is. We keep ending up alone, together," Hermione stopped realising her words sounded slightly more provocative than she had intended. Draco was watching her closely and his next words made her stare back at him.

"So...did you want to go straight back to the Castle?"

Hermione hesitated before answering. Her voice was quiet and hesitant because the last thing she wanted was for Draco to turn all this around suddenly on her. "Are you giving me another option?"

Draco smirked at her. "Are you interested if I am?"

Hermione pulled a face. "Stop answering questions with questions."

"We could go up to the equipment hut."

"Wow! What an offer! No wonder you have such a great reputation with girls! The equipment hut, lucky me," Hermione couldn't help but be sarcastic but she smiled to take the sting out of her words. The truth was she couldn't care less where he was offering to take her. All that mattered was that he was offering.

Draco smirked back at her. "Okay, I didn't make that sound very appealing. What I meant was the very top of the stadium, you can see the whole stadium and the view over the cliffs if you look the other way. It's a great view. I've been there loads of times." Draco seemed to surprise himself by this confession and he stared down at the floor.

"I bet you have. Please spare me the details," Hermione said ignoring his embarrassment and he lifted his head and chuckled at her comment.

"Very quick comeback, Granger."

"Hermione."

"So are you accepting my offer then, Hermione?" he emphasised her name but as always the way he said it made her melt.

"I don't know, I have a feeling it's not a good idea. You plus me generally ends in disaster." She had no idea why she was now playing hard to get but his next comment made her glad she'd made her disaster comment.

"Really? I think you plus me generally leads to magic happening." Draco didn't explain his comment any further so Hermione was left to make her own decision what he meant. "Are you going to be the first girl ever to turn me down, Granger?"

"Hermione," she corrected him again.

Draco grinned at her and she realised he had used her surname on purpose. "Well?"

"Okay." Hermione couldn't manage much more of an answer so she just said this and nodded her head. They walked in silence to the other end of the stadium and then all the way up to the top of the stands. When they reached their destination Hermione gazed around her. The view was indeed incredible with a towering view over the whole stadium one way and a panoramic view over the hills behind the castle the other way.

"Wow! Gorgeous." Hermione said shielding her eyes from the sun to see properly.

"I know but what about the view?" Draco quipped and she turned to look at him an amused look on her face.

"Did Snape brew you a brand new sense of humour potion?" she asked cleverly, "The Draco I know and remember didn't have one."

He didn't reply so she took a seat next to him, still looking out at the view.

"What's going on between us?" Draco's question broke the silence and she turned to look at him, her stomach doing a flip.

"What do you mean?" Hermione knew her voice sounded breathless but she couldn't help it.

Draco had turned to look at her, his eyes always the colour of a storm cloud seemed even darker. He didn't answer straight away and she didn't dare to breath, her mind racing in a million directions as she wondered what he was going to say to her. Had he noticed how she was feeling about him? She couldn't believe he had because she was sure that she had done a good job of keeping it under wraps.

"Are you trying to tell me you don't feel anything?" Draco was studying her face intently and she couldn't help but blush. Oh my god! Did he know? She then realised he had continued talking. "When we do those spells? You don't feel anything?"

Hermione felt every muscle in her body relax. He was talking about the feeling when they did the spells! This was embarrassing enough to discuss with him because there was definitely a connection between them, but at least she wasn't going to have to confess her feelings for him. She was most definitely not ready for that.

"Oh! That feeling," Hermione said with relief.

Draco nodded. "What is it?"

Hermione then said the first thing that came into her head. "I just thought it was because I was standing so close to the sexiest boy in the school." She meant it as a joke to try and draw attention away from the connection they seemed to have but immediately realized it was a stupid thing to say to Draco Malfoy! The familiar smirk had found its way to his face.

"Are you telling me you think I'm the sexiest boy in the school?" he wiggled his eyebrows at her.

"I am just talking about the way you are perceived by most of the school." Hermione could hear herself sounding pompous but couldn't help it.

Draco burst out laughing. "That has got to be the worst back pedalling I have ever heard!" Hermione had the good grace to smile. He was right it was terrible and totally unconvincing. Rather than letting embarrassment take over her, she joked again.

"That has got to be the reason for your feeling though. I mean there is no contesting my status as the sexiest girl in the school." Hermione's voice was laced with irony and she gave him a grin

Draco grinned back and it suddenly struck Hermione that her wish for them to be at ease with one another was almost coming true. It wasn't quite without tensions but this teasing and joking was a massive step forward.

Draco shrugged his shoulders. "You're not too bad."

Hermione stared at him open mouthed. She should have been insulted really because it was hardly a gushing compliment but hearing Draco Malfoy saying even this half hearted compliment was shocking. His next sentence spoilt it.

"For a boring, unadventurous, stuffy bookworm," he was staring out at the view.

"You forgot to mention how uptight I am," she stared out at the view herself.

"Oh yeh. A boring, unadventurous, stuffy and uptight bookworm." Draco nodded still staring straight ahead. Then he turned his head to look at her before adding, "who would have thought I'd get such an incredible feeling from someone like that?"

Hermione had to draw a shuddering breath as she tried to get a grip on her rapidly escalating emotions. She stared at him and he stared back and for a few moments his last few words hung in the air between them. Hermione couldn't quite take in that he had really said them and she couldn't keep the fluttering in her stomach from spreading outwards to her fingertips. Draco spoke first.

"We should go back, it's getting late."

They walked back to the Castle in silence and it was as if the walk allowed them both to re-set their feelings back to normal. It was as if the whole, surreal conversation that had just occurred had been between two other people because there wasn't a chance on earth that sworn enemies like Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy could ever speak that way to one another. Was there?

**Mmmm...this was my favourite chapter to write so far. Love them having a good old chat like this one. As usual I am going to beg you to review...thanks for reading. x**


	15. The G Word

It had been a week since the Quidditch match and Blaise team had gone on to win the entire thing leading to another night of celebration. Professor McGonagall had praised the Committee (and Draco) on the success of the Quidditch tournament.

Hannah had suggested that they do some more quizzes and so yesterday one had taken place between 2nd and 3rd years. Tomorrow it was the turn of the 4th and 5th years. The quizzes were proving really popular because they were fun to watch and there was a great incentive for the participants. The 2nd and 3rd years were allowed to skip their least favourite lesson for an entire week. The 4th and 5th years were allowed to visit Hogsmeade as many times as they liked over a weekend. Inevitably someone suggested a quiz for the 6th and 7th years and it was decided that the Professor's should set the questions. The reward for the winners would be a entire week with no curfew and a midnight feast laid on by the house elves.

Each member of the committee would be captain of a 6th/7th year team that they could select from anyone who volunteered and Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape would be asking the questions. Having won the Quidditch Blaise was continually teasing the other team captains about how they didn't have a chance of winning. Hermione was being cautious about who to have on her team but she had obviously already got Ginny. Blaise had pulled a face saying she should be on his team but Ginny wasn't moving. As yet, Draco hadn't even said he would do the quiz and Hermione wasn't under any illusion that he would want to be on her team. She would have liked him on her team, of course because he was very clever.

It was a beautiful, sunny day and as soon as lessons finished Ginny was meeting Blaise so Hermione decided to grab a book and re-visit the place that Draco had shown her. It was bound to be quiet and she could relax and read. She climbed the steps to the top of the stadium, feeling hot and bothered as she reached the top. She rounded the corner and stopped dead because Draco was already there, also reading, his legs stretched out onto the chair in front of him, his head leant back. She was stuck to the spot, unsure what to do when she heard his voice.

"Hello, Granger."

Hermione walked over to him. "Hermione," she corrected him, "I didn't expect anyone to be here."

"Neither did I." Draco threw the comment back at her "I was hoping for some peace and quiet."

Hermione sighed. "Sorry. I'll go, it's not a problem." She went to step away from him but he grabbed her wrist.

"Oh no, you're not going anywhere." Draco sat up and looked up at her. "Sit down and relax."

"I thought you just said you wanted to be alone."

"I've suddenly changed my mind."

Hermione blushed and then felt annoyed at herself. She took a seat and as she did so she noticed the book he was holding.

"1001 Wizard facts and figures?" she read from the cover and then looked up at him. "Why are you reading that?"

"We need to be prepared if we're going to win that quiz, don't we?"

"We? What do you mean we?" Hermione asked him.

"Our team. I reckon we can win hands down to be honest." Draco was flicking through the book. "Shall I test you on some questions?"

Hermione shook her head. "I don't remember us discussing you being on my team. I'm sorry but all the places are taken."

"I know, I took Ginny's place." Draco still didn't look up from his book so Hermione snatched it from him to get his attention.

"What do you mean? Where has Ginny gone?"

"I suggested she went onto Blaise team." Draco suddenly seemed to realise that Hermione didn't seem exactly happy with him. "Why are you looking like that? Are you saying you don't want me on your team?"

"No...yes...grrr!" Hermione stuttered over her reply and then got annoyed at the effect he always had on her.

"Listen, Ginny's great but after everything we've managed to do lately together, you must know that together we can win." Draco raised his eyebrows at her, daring her to challenge him.

"I know but I would have liked to have been consulted on it first."

"Well I would have thought you would have saved me a place." Draco shrugged. "Never mind, I suppose Ginny and I can swap back, if you're that upset about it."

He didn't offer to move and continued to flick through his book. Hermione sat next to him, trying her very best not to remain annoyed at him. Maybe she should have saved him a place? And she did definitely want him on her team for more reasons than one! She noticed he was staring at her out of the corner of his eye.

"I can't believe you're not begging me to stay on your team!" Draco said ending his pretence of reading his book and turning to face her. "Come on Hermione! It's a simple enough decision. Do you want me or not?"

As soon as he said the words they were both actually aware of their double meaning. Hermione bit her lip to stop from chuckling but Draco was smirking widely at her.

"So, onto a whole new subject then – Hermione, do you want me or not?" Draco asked again, this time in a low, sexy voice his mannerisms dripping with suggestiveness. Hermione laughed out loud but before she could answer he continued. "Actually, there is no need to answer because of course you do! There isn't a girl within a twenty mile radius who doesn't want me." He grinned and put his hands behind his head, stretching out in his chair. The problem was, he did look so incredibly sexy, lounging on his chair, an arrogant smirk on his handsome face that she found it difficult to disagree with him. She couldn't let him think he was god's gift without any comeback so she answered him, sarcastically.

"And yet somehow I manage to resist." She raised her eyebrows back at him and received a smirk. He then leant forward.

"Mmm. You do. What can I do to change that then?" Draco asked and Hermione couldn't keep the surprised look off her face. Was he saying he wanted to stop her resisting him? Little did he know, that battle was already half won for him because she spent every waking hour trying to not give in.

"You could turn the clock back six years and try being nice instead of a complete jerk." Hermione said this, then realised that although it was true, it didn't sound particularly nice. Too late, she'd said it now.

Draco's back straightened slightly and his voice held a different tone when he answered. "I'm not nice, Granger."

Hermione felt her annoyance rise. It was like she'd flicked a switch and old style Draco was back. Her attraction to him didn't mean she had to put up with these constant mood swings.

"See, that's causing me a problem."

"What is?" Draco asked.

"The whole Granger thing," Hermione said.

Draco sighed loudly. "It's just a slip of the tongue. I can't get out of the habit."

"Yes you can. You only call me Granger now when you want to annoy me or if you're unhappy about something I say or do."

"You're imagining things. It's just a name." Draco was dismissive and he attempted to grab the book back. "Are we going to test each other or not?"

Hermione ignored his question and continued. "It's not just a name. I'm either Hermione or I'm Granger and you need to make your mind up because I won't let you mess me around."

Draco stared at her seriously for a minute and then his handsome face broke into a small grin.

"I wouldn't dare mess you around, Hermione." He pointed at his mouth to indicate the use of her name. "I promise to not use the 'G' word again."

Hermione stared at him, surprised at his easy agreement. Nevertheless she knew she had to make her feelings clear. It was either that or she'd end up getting incredibly hurt as she was caring about him more and more each day.

"It's not just the word, it's the attitude." She spoke quietly now not wanting to create a huge argument.

Draco pushed his hair out of his eyes and moved his face closer to hers. He then shook his head slowly. "I can't make you any promises on that one, Hermione. I am Draco Malfoy after all. I can't suddenly turn into Harry Potter. The question is, can you live with that or not?"

Hermione, who was now ridiculously aware of his closeness, already knew her answer. Of course she could live with it! She found it incredibly sexy and unbelievably attractive. She stared into his eyes wondering how what to say, when he grabbed the book back from her.

"Shall I take that as a yes?" Draco asked then waved the book in front of her. "Come on Team Captain, let's win this quiz."

**Hee hee - who would like to be asked that question by Draco? - do you want me or not?- easy one to answer if you want my opinion! Hope you liked it, they are gradually getting closer and closer and obviously the feelings are quite as one sided any longer. Love you're reviews so please do one and let me know what you think. On holiday at moment so updates might be at little less frequent than usual. x**


	16. On the right track

"Hermione!"

Hermione turned to see Blaise running to catch her up.

"Hey, Blaise."

"So I think you owe me a thank you." Blaise grabbed her arm and stopped her walking.

"For what exactly?" Hermione asked.

"I believe a certain Mr Draco Malfoy is on your team? Part 1 of plan is complete." Blaise folded his arms looking smug.

Hermione creased her brow. "How are you expecting to take the credit for that?"

Blaise grinned. "I suggested he swapped places with Ginny. I told him I wanted Ginny on my team and that you two seem to have this connection thing going on so it would make sense for him to be on your team."

Hermione tried not to let her face drop too much but failed. "Oh. That isn't what he told me, he said he'd asked to swap so we could be on the same team. He didn't mention you at all." She felt a feeling of deflation hit her along with one of resignation. She had told her herself to not get her hopes up and now she wished she hadn't. Blaise grabbed her arms realising she was upset.

"Don't look like that. I put the idea in his head but he was very enthusiastic. He wasn't doing it for me."

Hermione sighed and lowered herself heavily onto a stone bench. "I don't know, Blaise. Maybe I should just start avoiding him again. I just can't see how this can ever work out."

Blaise joined her on the bench. "It worked out for me and Ginny. Even you said you didn't hold out much hope of that happening." He turned to face her. "You know what you're problem is don't you?"

"What?"

"You - you're the problem."

"Thanks a bunch."

Blaise chuckled. "I think you're great, Hermione but that is because you're act like yourself around me. You're a great person but I've seen you around Draco and you're not yourself. You're all uptight..."

Hermione moaned loudly at him. "There's that word again."

Blaise looked at her questioningly. "What do you mean again?"

"Draco told me I was uptight. He said Ginny was easy to talk to," Hermione pulled a face. "I don't think I'm uptight but he just winds me up! Even if I could change how I am around him, if he doesn't like me in that way, what would be the point?"

Blaise nodded. "He does like you, Hermione. He wouldn't be acting as he is if he didn't. I do know him really well, remember?"

Hermione shrugged. "It's so difficult, six years of being enemies is too much to overcome."

Blaise sighed loudly. "For god's sake girl! What sort of attitude is that? YOU need to show him how you're feeling."

"And what if he laughs in my face? And how do I go about showing him. Are you suggesting I grab him in potions and give him a snog?"

"That'd work for me." Blaise grinned at her. "He won't laugh at you, Hermione. Listen, it's Quidditch tonight, we're against Ravenclaw. Why don't you come and watch and cheer us on? That'll get him thinking."

Hermione stared at him. "I don't like Quidditch."

Blaise groaned loudly and she grinned at him indicating she had been joking.

"After that we'll think of something else, maybe to do with the quiz..." Blaise said.

"Oh, we've already met a few times to test each other," Hermione said.

Blaise switched from best friend to quiz team opponent in a flash. "Have you? He didn't tell me that! You're serious about winning then are you, Granger?"

Hermione stood up from the bench and smirked. "Yes, Zabini. I am." She gave him a wink and walked off.

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Potions was over and Hermione rose from her seat, stuffing her book in her bag.

"Mr Malfoy, Miss Granger. Please remain seated." Professor Snape's voice came to her and she looked up surprised. She and Draco hadn't been working together in the lesson so what could they have done? She glanced over at Draco but he was looking just a puzzled as she felt. Once the rest of the class had left, Professor Snape indicated that they should take a desk at the front of the classroom. He looked down his rather large nose at them as he spoke.

"Professor McGonagall has mentioned your recent impressive performance in Transfiguration to me and that, along with your excellent use of magic the other day in this class has led us to this decision."

Hermione listened with interest, surprised by the praise from this particular teacher, albeit slightly begrudging.

"It is a very uncommon occurrence for two wizards of your age to be able to produce this level of magic simply by working together. We would be failing in our duties if we did not try to progress this further. It may be that you have already reached the limit of what the connection between you can do but by the same measure it there could also be a vast amount still unexplored. So, we would like you to attend a set of extra sessions with myself and Professor McGonagall where we put your connection to the test. We will start with just four sessions but if things go as we expect it could lead to more." Professor Snape glared at them as if he was expecting them to protest but neither of them said anything so he nodded their dismissal and told them the sessions would start the following evening.

Hermione and Draco left the classroom together and Hermione felt like her head was spinning. More time with Draco? Testing their connection! Was someone trying to make her head explode?

"Told you it was special didn't I?" Draco's voice broke into her thoughts.

Hermione hadn't got her thoughts in order so she stuttered over her words. "Mmm...I suppose we'll see won't we?"

"They wouldn't be bothering if they didn't believe there was more we can do. I knew McGonagall was impressed that day in Transfiguration." Draco looked please with himself and Hermione tried to feel the same but for some reason she couldn't. She wasn't sure she could handle much more time alone with Draco. Well, not entirely alone but she was sure it would involve them touching and standing close together. She realised Draco was staring at her. "You don't look exactly enthusiastic. I thought you'd be ecstatically happy about us being singled out like this."

Hermione tried to appear more excited. "Yes, I am. I'm just not sure if we can do much more. What we've done so far seemed ridiculously difficult."

Draco leant forward and waved his hands over her head and face, whilst making a strange humming sound. "Don't you feel the connection? Concentrate and feel the connection," he said this in a strange voice sounding very much like Professor Trelawney and Hermione giggled despite herself. He was being friendly and funny and she thought about her earlier conversation with Blaise. She needed to respond to him when he was like this instead of holding back all the time. She took a deep breath and spoke before she changed her mind.

"So you're not unhappy that we have to spend even more time together? I mean with this and the quiz..."

Draco was looking at her with a slightly strange look on his face and he took a moment before he answered her.

"Are you?"

"I asked first." For once Hermione was quick with her response.

Draco took another moment looking at her again and Hermione tried to keep calm, waiting for his answer.

"Actually, for some strange, inexplicable reason, I am actually enjoying spending time with you," Draco answered her, his face serious but there was a glint in his eye. "So I'll ask again, are you?" Hermione stared at him uncomprehendingly, her mind in a whirl from his positive response. She then remembered he had thrown her original question back at her. Did she mind spending time with him? Hermione felt heat rise in her cheeks and was immediately annoyed at herself. What was it lately with the blushing? She was acutely aware of his penetrating eyes watching her and she knew she needed to respond but Draco spoke again before she had time to construct a sentence. "Or maybe six years of hatred is too much to forgive and forget." His voice was low, there was no hint of his usual sarcasm and his eyes had a look in them she hadn't seen before.

"No!" Hermione blurted the word out, not wanting her hesitation to be misunderstood. She was beginning to get really annoyed at herself because, yet again, she was wasting an opportunity to show him how she felt. What was more she now had an indication from him that he was beginning to like spending time with her too. Draco was staring at her again a puzzled look on his face. She managed to string some words together. "What I mean is...I'm glad you don't mind being with me all the time..." she hesitated for a second but made herself carry on, "because I like being with you...well most of the time, sometimes you drive me crazy!" she added the last few words and then grinned and was pleased to see him grin back.

"That definitely works both ways! I've never known a girl as stubborn and pig headed."

"YOU are calling ME stubborn and pig headed?" Hermione asked him incredulously, "takes one to know one." She realised she sounded like a five year old and grinned again.

"Very mature, Grang..." Draco realised his mistake and stopped half way through her name. Before continuing, he stepped forward and gently touched her arm, making her eyes stretch in her face and her breathing accelerate alarmingly. He then spoke her name, close to her ear, like a breath of air, "Hermione." She felt her knees shake a little as this one word sent a shiver through her. No-one had ever said her name like Draco did, she couldn't imagine it ever sounding more seductive or breathtaking. Still grasping her courage in both hands she spoke back to him, in a low voice.

"The six years has already been forgiven and it wasn't hatred. I thought I hated you, certainly until 3rd year but I didn't. Half the time I pitied you," she stopped hoping she hadn't said the wrong thing but he was still gazing at her gently. He then nodded, straightened his back and stepped away from her.

"Good. That's good," he paused before turning away from her. "See you, Hermione." He emphasised her name but still managed to make it sound heavenly. He then sauntered off down the corridor and she felt a smile forming on her face. Maybe there was a chance after all?

**Hello! I'm back from my hols which were fab! Hope you liked this Chapter, more Draco and Hermione to come and Hermione is still trying to change a little. Let me know what you think...luv the reviews. x**


	17. Concentration

Hermione had taken Blaise's advice and was in the stands watching the Quidditch match. She wasn't exactly sure the plan was working because the stand was full and none of the players were even aware she was there. She also felt slightly strange because she was surrounded by Slytherin pupils who were glancing at her a bit strangely.

She watched Draco and Blaise as they circled around the stadium, obviously showing off. She could hear snippets of conversation from a couple of girls behind her and their sole topic of conversation so far had been Draco and Blaise.

As the game progressed Hermione became bored. Draco was totally oblivious to her presence, she couldn't concentrate on the game and she was feeling increasingly uncomfortable in the Slytherin stand. She suddenly had the thought of what Harry's face would look like if he saw her sitting here and she giggled to herself. When she looked up again, Draco was hovering right in front of her and he was staring straight at her. She almost panicked and was about to bend her head lower and ignore him when she remembered that this was supposed to be a plan. So, trying to look as casual as she could she gave him a wide smile and waved. Draco smiled back but instead of waving he put his hand to his mouth and blew her a kiss! Hermione knew that she probably looked like a goldfish with her mouth open but she couldn't help it she was so astonished.

She heard the girls behind her scream and giggle until they realised that it was Hermione he was looking at, she could then feel their eyes on her back. Draco was still looking at her and Hermione wanted to shout to him to concentrate on the game when he suddenly turned as if his name had been called. He took one last glance at her and took off at speed to the other side of the stadium. Hermione's attention was now fully on the game and she watched with interest until it was over. Draco caught the snitch in the last few seconds of the game and Hermione found herself jumping from her seat and cheering just like all the Slytherin pupils surrounding her.

As the stadium emptied, Hermione hesitated unsure what to do. Should she go and wait by the changing room or was that taking it a bit too far? She dithered about uncertainly on the bottom of the stand when the door to the changing rooms opened and Draco walked out. He saw her immediately and waved. Hermione again felt a weird feeling. It was as if she and Draco had suddenly become really good friends! When did that happen? Draco walked over to her and she again tried to look casual as if she hadn't really been waiting for him.

"You came to watch?" Draco's words were a question and a statement at the same time so she just nodded, not sure how to respond. "It's a good thing that we won then, isn't it?"

"Yeh, well done," Hermione said.

"Since when did you become a Slytherin fan? Or a Quidditch fan for that matter?" Draco had taken a seat and he grabbed her arm and pulled her down next to him.

Hermione immediately regretted not having prepared an answer to this very obvious question.

"Err..." she bit her lip desperately thinking of a reply when she again remembered the plan. She was supposed to be showing Draco how she felt! So she tried to answer cleverly. "Well maybe my enthusiasm depends on who's playing." She was pleased with her answer, it wasn't too obvious. She watched Draco's handsome face as he looked at her in surprise and then smiled.

"Yeh, Blaise is good isn't he?" he smirked at her, knowing full well she didn't mean Blaise. She pulled a face at him and then completely surprised herself with her next words because they were the kind of thing Ginny would say and defiantly not the kind of thing Hermione Granger would say.

"Yes, he's good but I prefer Seekers myself."

She saw Draco's eyebrows shoot up, his smirk gone as he stared at her and if she hadn't been so surprised at her own actions she would have laughed. Her moment of bravery was quickly fading and she now wishing desperately that he would stop staring so intently at her. They were close and she was finding it difficult to concentrate again.

"What's going on with us, Hermione?" Draco asked this softly and the way he said it rendered her speechless. He'd asked her a similar question to this before but she knew this time it wasn't about their magic abilities. How was she supposed to answer, even if she knew the answer? Draco had a very good point - what the hell was going on here? She had just watched a Slytherin Quidditch game and then flirted with Draco Malfoy! She was sure she'd wake up in a minute because this must be some strange dream. Draco continued, "we've spent our entire school lives avoiding each other and now suddenly you're at my Quidditch match! And you were cheering when we won." Hermione blushed, not realising he'd seen her.

"Yeh, I'm a bit surprised by all this myself," Hermione said quietly.

"Sometimes you're very funny," Draco said and chuckled. They sat in silence for a few moments and Hermione began to relax, just a little. Yet again, Draco was being nice and sitting together like this felt right and comfortable. After a few minutes, Draco turned to her again. "So how are you feeling about our little date with Snape and McGonagall tomorrow?"

"Okay, I suppose. I have a sneaking suspicion we won't live up to their grand expectations," Hermione stopped speaking, realising she had insulted Draco as well as herself. "Sorry, no offence meant."

Draco shook his head at her. "None taken but I think we'll exceed their expectations."

"Typical Malfoy arrogance," Hermione said but there was no malice in her voice.

"Not arrogance, just confidence in my ability."

"Who's ability?" Hermione asked pointedly.

"Mine." Draco said on purpose, knowing full well it was both of them. "I suppose you do add to my already ample talents, a bit."

"Huh," Hermione grunted and glared at him.

He stood up and then pulled her to her feet. "Come on, I'll walk you back."

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

"Stand closer and hold hands," Professor Snape's snide voice instructed. They were already face to face, far closer than Hermione was comfortable with, especially with two Professors watching! Even so she did as instructed but she couldn't make herself take Draco's hands. He didn't seem in any hurry to do that either until Professor Snape barked another order at them. "Hold hands! Now concentrate on the spell. Say it over and over in your head, concentrate on each other and nothing else."

Hermione wanted the floor to open up because this was a living nightmare. She was being given instructions that she found all too easy to follow – hold the very handsome boy's hand, concentrate on him and nothing else – by her Potions professor! She had to fight the urge to giggle which was always her reaction when she was nervous. Draco also looked like he was finding this difficult.

Professor Snape had set them the task of moving the very heavy, large supplies cupboard to the left by six inches. Hermione knew she would have been unable to do this on her own. She was used to using the Wingardium Leviosa spell for small objects, it was quite different to use it on such a large item. Draco counted them in as they had done previously but unsurprisingly nothing happened. After another eight attempts, Professor Snape sighed and told them to step apart for a few minutes. Hermione wasn't enjoying this and the whole pressure of the situation wasn't helping her concentrate.

"Try again, stand so you are almost touching but still able to look into each others' eyes..." Professor Snape droned on and Hermione sighed loudly. His constant commentary from the corner of the room wasn't going to make this happen. After another few attempts, Draco stepped away and turned to Snape.

"With respect, Professor, we seem to be able to do this more effectively if we just...do it together..." Draco seemed to hesitate, sensing Professor Snape's annoyance.

"Really? You don't believe that my experience can help you?" Professor Snape sounded scathing. "I know your family name allows you some arrogance, Mr Malfoy but I don't believe even you can think you know more than I do."

"No, Professor. It's just the concentration..."

"Very well. I will simply observe. Go ahead." Snape seemed to lose patience with the conversation and he sat back in his chair in silence. Hermione could sense his lack of belief in them from across the room and she was suddenly determined that they would do this. Draco had taken her hands again and she let her eyes lock with his, her entire being concentrating on him. Draco counted down and she focused on the spell. She let herself begin to melt into his eyes, his hands touching hers, his closeness. She heard a thud and Draco pulled away. Professor Snape had stood and was approaching the large cupboard and Hermione could sense his excitement.

She knew they'd done it just by Snape's reaction. They'd moved the cupboard! She saw the grin on Draco's face as he looked at the cupboard with Snape.

"You've done it," Snape said turning to them both. "Very well done. Obviously total concentration is the key to success. I think tomorrow we will ask Professor McGonagall to try and attack you with her wand..."

They left the classroom and Draco was chuckling to himself.

"Did you see his face? He thought we couldn't do it! I was so glad we did it - once I'd told him to shut up!"

"Gloating isn't an attractive quality," Hermione said and Draco stopped to look at her.

"Don't tell me you didn't enjoy getting one over on Snape?"

Hermione bit her lip, knowing he was right. It had been amazing and she had enjoyed proving her least favourite professor wrong.

"A little, I suppose."

Draco put his head to one side. "You're too nice, Hermione - too Gryffindor. I'm going to have to do something about that." He smirked sexily at her and her retort stuck in her throat because the idea really didn't sound too bad at all.

**More connecting next chapter...please keep reading and as always I'd love a review. x**


	18. So near and yet so far

The following day it was the Quiz and as usual the whole school was taking sides. Hermione sat at her team's table watching the seats filling up but for once she didn't feel nervous. This was right up her street, her team was good and she noticed that Blaise wasn't looking quite as confident as he had been.

Draco was fussing around by her, moving bits of parchment around, giving little instructions to the rest of the team and generally fidgeting about. Hermione reached out and touched his arm.

"Draco, sit down." She tried to say it in a calming voice and he did as she asked.

Professor McGonagall cleared her throat and then introduced the teams. Then the quiz began properly and Hermione concentrated all her effort on the questions. They were difficult, made to test the oldest and best pupils at the school but her team were great and they were doing really well. Blaise, Ginny and the rest of their team were close though. They had Michael Corner and Cho Chang who kept coming up with unexpected answers.

At half time Blaise's team had just crept into the lead and Draco was getting all agitated again. It amused Hermione that he was so bothered about winning a quiz! She wondered if she just wasn't competitive enough.

With only a few questions left Blaise was still leading and he was beginning to act as if he'd already won, waving at people and grinning from ear to ear. Hermione heard Draco growl near her ear and turned to look at him.

"Let's make sure we wipe that grin off his face," Draco said and he placed his hand over Hermione's on the buzzer.

Professor McGonagall called for silence then read out the next question.

"What colour will Shrinking Solution turn if too many rat spleens are added?"

Draco was mumbling under his breath, "red...yes it must be red..."

Colin Creevey who was also on Hermione's team, reached over and put his hand on top of Hermione's and Draco's making the buzzer sound. Hermione turned to look at him because until now they had consulted with each other before buzzing. Hermione had to answer for the team so Colin spoke close to her ear.

"It's orange, Hermoine. I remember Neville telling me about him doing it wrong."

Hermione looked at the professors. "Orange."

Draco groaned and put his head in his hands, obviously thinking the answer was wrong but Professor McGonagall nodded. "Correct."

Hermione's table erupted in cheers and Draco slapped Anthony on the back. "Never thought I'd say this but thank goodness for Neville Longbottom!"

Professor McGonagall was asking the next question. "What are the three crucial ingredients in Forgetfulness Potion?"

Blaise team buzzed immediately and Hermione saw Blaise turn to look at Ginny surprised.

"I know this..." Draco murmured.

Ginny didn't look entirely confident but started to answer. "Forget me not petals...daisy root...knotgrass."

Professor McGonagall shook her head. "I'm sorry, Miss Weasley that answer is incorrect. I must offer the question to the other teams."

Blaise had his head on the table and Ginny looked mortified. Before Hermione could notice anything further she felt Draco press their hands down and buzz. She looked at him the same way as Blaise had looked at Ginny. He had better get this right!

"The last items should have been spine of a lionfish."

"Correct."

Hermione's table were all standing clapping again and Hermione glanced at the scoreboard. Now they were level with two more questions left. Suddenly she really, really wanted to win.

"Penultimate question, teams," Professor McGonagall was saying. "What is the name of the spell to reveal a hidden passageway?"

All four teams seemed to go for their buzzers at once and for a moment Hermione couldn't tell which team had got there first until she heard Hannah answering.

"Dissendium."

Hermione and Draco groaned in unison, both of them knowing this was correct. The room was getting noisy now, everyone aware that three of the teams had a chance to win, depending on the last question.

"Silence!" Professor Snape's voice bellowed and the room went quiet.

"Final question , if everyone is ready." Professor McGonagall waited for a nod from each of the team captains before continuing. "Dilys Derwent was Headmistress of Hogwarts for 27 years. Please give me the year she became Headmistress and the year she was replaced."

There were a few sighs and groans around the room and Hermione knew that this was a question few people would be able to answer precisely. Hermione had dates in her head and she remembered seeing this particular information when she'd been testing Draco recently but it was difficult to recall exactly.

"1741 I think or was it 1761?" Draco whispered.

"No, it was 1741," Colin said.

"He's right." Draco nodded.

"1741-1768?" Hermione looked at her team and then hit the buzzer hard.

She looked up ready to answer the question but was surprised to see Professor McGonagall looking over to Blaise's table. They must have buzzed just a second quicker!

"Yes, Mr Zabini?"

"She was Headmistress between 1741 and 1768," Blaise said, he then turned and winked at Draco and Hermione who were both staring at him open mouthed.

"Correct! Congratulations! Mr Zabini's team are the winners."

The hall erupted as pupils either jumped around and cheered or put their heads in their hands. Hermione sat dumbstruck for a few moments before turning to her team.

"We almost did it," Colin said in a weak voice.

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

It was the evening of the quiz and Blaise was still walking around the school gloating. As curfew approached he had great pleasure in pointing out it was time for everyone to return to their dormitories, everyone except the winning team of course. They were planning to stay up till their midnight feast and they were free to roam the castle if they wanted. Hermione wasn't a sore loser so she allowed herself a little laugh at his behaviour. To her surprise, Draco had taken defeat graciously as well and he had even thanked the rest of their team for doing so well.

Hermione went to bed early, feeling tired but once she got there she couldn't get to sleep. She had spells and charms and potions running around in her head and she couldn't relax. She was about to check the clock when she heard footsteps from below and Ginny appeared.

"Hermione? Are you awake?"

"Yes. What's the matter?"

"Nothing but get dressed. Draco is waiting for you downstairs." Ginny grinned mysteriously at her friend.

Hermione sat up in bed. "What do you mean? It's almost midnight, why aren't you at the feast? And why is Draco waiting for me?"

"I'm going to the feast now. Stop asking questions and hurry up."

**Sorry to leave you all in suspense...it's not for long...next chapter being loaded now...hope you liked this one...leave a little review...x**


	19. Midnight

Still half asleep, Hermione did as Ginny had instructed and got dressed, her mind racing. What was this all about? What were they all up to? She wanted to ask if she and Draco had been given permission to get up and wander around the castle in the middle of the night but she didn't want to appear like a complete swot. Uptight was the word everyone seemed to keep using wasn't it? Maybe breaking a few rules would stop them using it to describe her.

She followed Ginny along the quiet, dark corridors and down the main staircase. Near to the Hall Ginny stopped and pointed.

"I'm going in here. You need to walk towards the Slytherin Common Room..."

"But..." Hermione went to protest but Ginny held up her hand.

"You need to walk towards the Slytherin Common Room, that's all. No buts or questions...go on." Ginny waved her hands at Hermione and with a sigh Hermione did as she was being told. It was quite dark and as soon as Ginny had entered the Hall and shut the door it seemed very quiet. Hermione told herself to stop being a drama queen but she felt like turning back. Suddenly a figure stepped out in front of her.

"Boo!"

Hermione jumped up in the air and screamed, her hand on her chest.

"Sshh! It's only me." Draco's familiar voice sounded amused but Hermione wanted to slap him.

"For god's sake! Your scared me half to death! What is this all about, Draco? Because I am not liking it one little bit. If this is your idea of a joke..." she was stopped by Draco placing his hand gently across her mouth.

"Will you take a breath!" he said. "It's not a joke so stop yelling at me and let me show you." He removed his hand slowly, making sure she wasn't going to scream again. Without another word he took her hand and pulled her along the corridor with him.

"Draco...I don't think..."

"Can you not just go with the flow for once?" Draco turned to face her, exasperated and she bit her lip while he looked at her for a moment. She then nodded. He grinned, grabbed her hand again and lead her around the corner and into a door. The room was quite big and Hermione guessed it had once been used as a classroom. They were low in the Castle now and there were no windows but above her head was a large skylight, through which she could see the dark sky and a few stars. Before she could look around any further, Draco pulled her across the room and then spread his arms wide, indicating a table which was full of food and had a couple of balloons attached to it.

"I thought we deserved our own Midnight feast. I mean we were so close, just one question in it so why shouldn't we have a treat as well?" Draco was watching her closely but for a moment she couldn't look up at him. She was so touched by his gesture that she could feel tears forming in her eyes. Had he really gone to all this trouble? His voice broke into her thoughts. "Hermione?"

She shook herself and looked at him with a smile. "Wow! Thank you, it looks great." She stepped over and grabbed a sandwich, "tastes great too!"

She was rewarded with a smile and they both took a seat and started tucking in. It was fun and they ran through the questions on the quiz, deciding they had lost because of a vital few. Once she'd finished eating Hermione realised she'd got ready in a huge hurry and she self consciously ran her hands through her hair. She took a glance at Draco who looked immaculate as usual.

"I must look a wreck. I didn't know there was a meal laid on for me, I just rolled out of bed."

"Yeh, I was just thinking what a mess your hair was," Draco said, not even glancing at her. She stared at him for a moment, trying to decide if he was joking or not and then he turned to her and grinned before adding, "at least you kept all the ghosts away." She reached over and slapped him on the arm.

"So rude!"

"You said it, I was just agreeing with you." Draco leant back and blatantly looked her up and down. "Mmm..."he said still assessing her appearance.

"What do you mean? Mmm?" Hermione demanded but she was grinning at him.

"Well, I'm not sure exactly when it happened but somewhere between 3rd year and now, you managed to become pretty." Draco smiled now, not a smirk, a proper smile and Hermione desperately concentrated on not blushing just in case there was a punch line to come. Draco spoke again, "actually...not pretty..." Hermione sighed, she knew there had to be a punch line. Draco Malfoy would not just compliment her for no apparent reason. "Beautiful," Draco nodded his head, "that's the word...utterly beautiful."

Hermione knew she was now the brightest, most unattractive shade of red she had ever been, totally disproving his wonderful words but she couldn't help it. No-one had ever called her beautiful, not ever! Being called beautiful was astounding in itself. That was a word used to describe Cho Chang or Ginny. But not only had Draco just called her beautiful, he had then added 'utterly' in front of it and made it sound incredible. It was a phrase that would be said to the leading lady in a film! To top it all off the person saying these amazing words to her was none other than Draco Malfoy. She became aware that he was looking at her nervously, obviously waiting on her reaction.

"I...erm..." she couldn't form a sentence and she saw a small smile play around the corners of Draco's mouth.

"Sorry, I've embarrassed you," he said.

"Whatever gave you that idea? Maybe it's because I'm a nice beetroot shade of red and unable to speak coherently?" Hermione said sarcastically but she managed a smile and she felt a bit of the awkwardness leave her as he chuckled. She then added "but thank you."

"You're welcome."

"That might be the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me. And it was said by the most awful, arrogant, rude and nasty person I've ever met." Draco's eyes opened wide and Hermione realised what she had said and put her hand to her mouth. "Oh! No! I don't mean now! I meant before...what I thought of you before..." she groaned loudly, annoyed at herself and Draco's smile returned.

"And how about now?" he asked, his eyes on her face.

"What do you mean?"

"What do you think of me now?"

Hermione couldn't drag her eyes from his and she wanted to tell him, really tell him that she was rapidly thinking that he was the most amazing, sexy, delicious, incredible...she stopped her train of thought before it got out of hand and tried to think of an answer she could actually say to him.

"I really like you...a lot." It was slightly pathetic but it would have to do because she'd said it now. Draco said nothing for a moment and just looked at her.

"Good."He nodded before continuing, "despite this new habit we seem to be slipping into of being nice to each other, I do still feel the need to point out that your hair is a freaky mess though, sorry."

Hermione grabbed a sandwich and threw it at him and he laughed.

**How was that then? Not too much too soon? Thought it was time for them to move on a little bit. It won't all be plain sailing from here now...that'd be boring wouldn't it? Hee Hee x**


	20. Misbehaving

Hermione found herself in the increasingly familiar position of being nose to nose with Draco. Professor Snape was issuing orders from the corner and Professor McGonagall was standing over from them aiming at them with her wand. It wasn't working and so far they had been hit with a variety of spells because they had been unable to produce Expelliarmus. Professor McGonagall was being kind with her spells but nevertheless Hermione was beginning to feel a bit worse for wear. She felt Draco squeeze her hand and she concentrated on him again. The next moment they were both on the floor having being hit by Professor McGonagall's spell again.

Professor Snape sniffed loudly. "Well, it would seem we may have come to the end of your abilities. This is a progression from producing a charm. Reflecting a spell non-verbally, wandless and working with a partner, is complex magic."

"I think you're being premature, Severus," Professor McGonagall said from her side of the room. "I can feel some barrier. They just need to project it more."

Hermione decided enough was enough. They had to do it this time! She grabbed Draco's hands and took a deep breath. She then locked her eyes with his.

"Come on, we have to do this," she leant closer, "they don't think we can."

Draco nodded and she felt him steady himself, ready to repel the spell.

"Impedimenta!" Professor McGonagall cast her spell.

Hermione focused entirely on Draco, letting herself engage completely with him. She felt a judder and let go of his hands, thinking they had failed. Then she noticed that she could still move and so could Draco – they'd done it!

"Congratulations!" Professor McGonagall said. "That was excellent, the spell was completely repelled and quite strongly. I think that is enough for tonight, well done."

Hermione and Draco left the classroom and she couldn't help but glance sideways at him. He was grinning and he nudged her on the arm.

"We're bloody amazing!"

Hermione laughed at his self praise but she agreed. They were amazing, in more ways than one.

"That did feel good, I could feel the power of our spell."

"So what are we doing now?" Draco asked.

"Going back to the dormitory?" Hermione said, wondering why he was asking as they always went back to the dormitory after their extra lessons.

"You want to go straight back, after we just managed to do that?" Draco asked, shaking his head at her. "I'm too wound up to go back yet."

"It's almost curfew." Hermione regretted saying this as soon as the words left her mouth. How to sound like a total bore! She should write a book on it! She added her next words quickly. "But let's do something anyway, a few minutes won't matter."

Without replying, Draco grabbed her hand and pulled her after him down the corridor. There were no other pupils around and Hermione was glad about because how would he go about explaining Draco Malfoy holding her hand?

"Where are we going?"

"The Library."

Hermione dragged him to a stop. "What? Why?"

Draco grinned wickedly at her. "Because I know it turns you on and I fancy turning you on..."

Hermione twisted her mouth to cover up a grin. He was a cheeky sod! "Very funny. Just because I appreciate the value of a good book does not mean I get 'turned-on' by them!"

"Liar." Draco started walking again, indicating for her to follow him.

"Why are we going to the library?" Hermione asked again as they entered through the double doors.

"Sssh, I don't want old Pince to know we're here, she'll tell us it's too late and kick us out," Draco whispered and he grabbed Hermione's hand again, leading her along the shelves to the back. "We'll wait till everyone has gone then we'll have the place to ourselves."

Hermione was fighting the urge to giggle. She always giggled when she was nervous and sneaking around with Draco Malfoy was enough to make anyone nervous. It also amused her that he was dragging her to the Library and saying he wanted them to have the place to themselves!

"What's funny?" Draco whispered, noticing her expression.

"You've just dragged me to the Library of all places and then told me we need the place to ourselves! What exactly are you planning for us to do, Draco? In the library?" Hermione giggled again and he grinned at her but then put his hand across her mouth.

"Sshh!"

The lights were being put out and Hermione realised that Madame Pince must be leaving. A thought suddenly hit her.

"Draco! We'll be locked in! She always locks the library at night."

Draco nodded. "I know she does. But we won't be locked in because I have a key and I know the spell she uses. Now be quiet!"

Hermione did as she was told, still fighting the urge to giggle. Eventually she heard the doors shut and it was quiet.

"She's gone." Draco spoke in his normal voice and started to light the lanterns again and then he went and inserted his copied key in the door and unlocked it.

"Why do you have a key to the library?" Hermione asked, folding her arm in front of her.

"Can't disclose that piece of information, sorry. Suffice to say that you are dealing with Draco Malfoy, notorious Slytherin and doer of evil!" Draco said this in a deep voice and Hermione laughed.

"I can't imagine a reason why you would ever want to break into the library."

"That's because you're pure and innocent and a Gryffindor." Draco said as if it was a matter of fact. "You probably don't have an evil bone in your body."

Hermione laughed. "I'm not sure Harry and Ron would agree with you on that."

Draco stared at her for a moment. "Do you miss them?"

She was surprised by his question and his gentle tone. Normally a mention of Harry was enough to send Draco into one of his sarcastic moods.

"Yes, I missed them a lot at first," Hermione hesitated before looking at Draco and adding, "not so much now..."

They looked at each other for a moment and then Draco put his head to one side.

"Don't you want to know why we are here?"

Hermione nodded. "Yes! Why are we here? Apart from turning me on, of course." She smirked at him.

"Of course! We'll come to that later..." Draco smirked back and Hermione felt her stomach do a somersault. God he was sexy, he oozed it from every pore and what did he mean - we'll come to that later? "Well, wouldn't you like to know how we are managing to do this and what it means – this connection?" he paused, looking slightly embarrassed, "god - now I sound like a right geek! It's just I've never felt anything like it. What you said about the power is right, it's like when you do the spell normally but it feels so much more powerful."

Hermione nodded at him. "It's okay, if there is anytime you can act like a geek it will be when you're with me..." she smiled ruefully at him.

"You're not a geek, not at all." Draco said and Hermione felt the tingles again. "You're just intelligent and thoughtful..."

"Uptight." Hermione inserted the word with a twist of her mouth.

"Yeh and uptight but I can put up with it," Draco teased her.

They wandered around the library trying to find anything that might give them some information but it was difficult to know where to start. Hermione randomly pulled books from shelves but couldn't find anything.

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea, after all," Draco admitted as he flicked through a large book on wandless magic. He pushed his hair back from his eyes and Hermione gasped.

"Oh my god, Draco. Your scar! It's turning much darker."

He felt his forehead self consciously. "Oh, I know."

Hermione put her hand to her mouth in horror. "Oh I feel awful now! I thought it would just fade! It's my fault, I should have taken you straight to the infirmary..."

Draco put his hand on her arm. "Calm down, Hermione. It's not your fault."

"Yes it is!" Hermione heard her voice rising and she tried to hold back the tears that were threatening behind her eyes. "You're face is so..." she didn't complete the sentence, "and I've spoilt it, forever!"

Draco put his book down and grabbed both her wrists. "Stop it! It's not your fault and Madam Pomfrey thinks it will fade, it will just take time.""

Hermione stared at him trying to decide if he was telling her the truth.

"Really?"

"Yes, really."

"I'm still sorry," Hermione said, staring at him in horror.

"Well don't be. All you did was stop me from being mutilated by Blaise." Draco grinned at her. "Or maybe you are still missing Harry and you fancied making me have a matching scar?"

Hermione managed a small smile. "Yeh, you've guessed." She set her shoulders straight. "Anyway, you could never be like Harry Potter." She saw Draco's face drop and shook her head at him. "That wasn't an insult, I mean Harry's great, he's such a lovely person and brave..."

"Not really enjoying being compared unfavourably to him, Hermione..." Draco interrupted her, his face unreadable.

"Not unfavourably. What I was about to say was he's great and I will always be thankful that he's my friend but you and I are much more alike."

Draco raised his eyebrows at her. "Alike? Us?"

"Yes - we are! You're clever and quick and you enjoy studying and doing well. I can talk to you about books and stuff and you don't just sit and yawn at me like Harry and Ron used to." Hermione bit her lip, realising she was laying the compliments on quite thickly. She shrugged her shoulders. "And you're fun..." she stopped and looked down at the table, suddenly aware that she was pouring her heart out.

Draco was smiling at her. "See, I've been waiting for just one compliment off you, since we've been getting along so well and all of a sudden you offer me a whole load of them at once!" He nudged her shoulder gently. "Thank you."

Hermione sighed. "You're welcome. I'm not so great at...saying stuff..."

Draco grinned again. "That's okay, I'm getting pretty good at interpreting."

Hermione sat forward in her seat. "I really should have said properly how much I appreciated the midnight feast. It was so nice of you to think of doing that."

"No problem. Anyway, what exactly is my face?" Draco leant towards her.

"Pardon?"

"You said – your face is so...and I've spoilt it. But you didn't say what? So my face is so...?"

Hermione bit her lip. "I can't remember what I was going to say."

Draco eyed her suspiciously. "Yes you can. Tell me."

"No."

"Hermione?"

"I can't remember."

"Hermione!"

She looked at him and then mumbled a word, "beautiful."

Draco stared at her, open mouthed, "beautiful?"

She lifted her head and stared at him defiantly. "Yes, beautiful. Don't act like you don't know. You have every girl at the school practically following you around, drooling so don't pretend you aren't aware of how you look."

"Every girl except one." Draco said and Hermione felt his eyes on her. She felt her throat go dry and wasn't sure what to say. There was electricity in the room and Hermione could feel every nerve jangling and she suddenly had the overwhelming urge to hug him. She leant towards him and without stopping to think about it she pulled him to her. She felt his arms go round her and he grabbed her chair, pulling her close, right against him. Her head was on his chest, her arms around him and she was having trouble breathing. He smelt like freshly washed laundry and his arms felt incredible round her waist. Hermione couldn't believe this was happening because she'd dreamed about being this close to him a thousand times and she wasn't quite sure how it had happened.

She pulled back and stood up, feeling a million things at all once but she also knew she had to escape, just so she could gather her thoughts.

"I should go now."

She saw him about to protest, thinking he was upset so she held up her hand to stop him.

"I'll see you tomorrow in lessons? And we still have another session with Professor Snape after that." She was babbling and Draco just nodded his head. "And then how do you fancy leading me astray again tomorrow evening? We can break a whole load of rules again in the library." Hermione gave him a little grin which he returned. "I'm sort of enjoying your bad influence."

Draco grinned properly at her. "Okay, Miss Granger. That's a date." He winked. "Told you I'd have to do something about you being too much of a Gryffindor."

**There you go - a nice big overload of mushiness (is that a word?). As I said before there may be trouble ahead...hope it was good...let me know x **


	21. Raising the temperature

Hermione was walking back from last lesson with Ginny.

"So what's next on the agenda for uniting the houses?" Ginny asked.

"Nothing as yet, we need to think of something so we don't lose the momentum."

"Easy peasy." Ginny said with a grin and Hermione turned to look at her.

"Go on then..."

"A dance. A proper one, everyone gets dressed up, decorations, a band. And you have to go with someone from a different house!" Ginny spread her arms wide and looked at Hermione for a reaction.

"Oooh! That's good!" Hermione said. "A Summer Ball!"

"Yes, that's a good idea to call it that." Ginny agreed. "You had better tell Anthony..."

"Tell me what?" Anthony's voice came from behind them.

"Ginny has come up with idea of throwing a Summer Ball." Hermione said. "You have to take a partner from a different house."

Anthony smiled and slapped Ginny, none too gently, on the back.

"That's a great idea." Anthony nodded enthusiastically, he then turned to Hermione. "Fancy meeting later to start sorting some details out?"

His question took Hermione by surprise and she hesitated. "Erm...it's probably a bit late to call a meeting for tonight."

"I didn't mean a formal meeting. I just meant the two of us for a chat." Anthony looked at Hermione hopefully and she suddenly realised there was another meaning to Anthony's request. She caught Ginny pulling a face and grinning out the corner of her eye and had to try really hard not to blush.

"Erm...yes, okay." Hermione answered trying to decide rapidly if she wanted to encourage Anthony or not. If she were honest, she would only be really interested in one person and it wasn't Anthony. But he was really nice and she didn't want to hurt his feeling so she had agreed, then she remembered her arrangements with Draco. "Oh, Anthony, I'm sorry I've just remembered I have a extra lesson with Professor Snape tonight," she purposely didn't mention Draco's name.

"Oh, that' okay. How about tomorrow then?"

Hermione nodded. "Yes, tomorrow will be fine."

Anthony walked off and Hermione turned to Ginny who was sniggering.

"Oooh! Hermione's got an admirer! Wow! He kept that well hidden, I had no idea he liked you. It must be all this house unity stuff," Ginny said, linking her arm with Hermione's. She realised Hermione was very quiet. "Don't be embarrassed, Anthony is really nice."

"Yes, he is," Hermione agreed.

"But?" Ginny asked picking up on Hermione's lack of enthusiasm.

"Nothing."

"No, there's something. What is it? Don't you like him at all? He's really quite good looking now and he's also really nice, I don't think I've ever seen him in a bad mood," Ginny rambled on, searching for Hermione's reason to hesitate.

"Yes, Ginny I know," Hermione nodded. "Stop going on about it."

Ginny looked at her friend for a minute then she stopped and put her hands on her hips. "Okay, something is wrong and you're going to tell me."

"Nothing's wrong. He's just surprised me, that's all."

Ginny rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "No, that's not it."

"Stop making a drama where there isn't one, come on." Hermione carried on walking and eventually Ginny followed her.

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

The extra lesson was nearly over. They had done really well, executing most the tests Professor Snape set them on the first or second attempt. Practise was making them good at connecting and being able to do the spells. Even Professor Snape appeared happy with them!

"Professor?"

"Yes, Mr Malfoy?"

"I wanted to ask if we were the first pupils who have been able to do this?"

"If you're asking me if you and Miss Granger are unique, then no, you're not," Professor Snape answered in his usual blunt way. "However, the ability to connect with another person as effectively as you and Miss Granger can is very rare. I have never come across it before."

"Is there a name for it? What makes it happen?" Hermione asked.

Professor Snape looked down his nose at her. "I suggest you visit the library at your earliest convenience and take a look at this book. It will give you all the information you need." He handed her a piece of paper and Hermione tried not to smile at the irony of him telling them to visit the library at their earliest possible convenience. How about tonight after curfew? She glanced at the name of the book :

Harmonic Magic - The Last Great Mystery of our Times. Author : Jemmy F. Optimar

"Harmonic Magic?" Draco said reading over her shoulder. "I knew it would have a name."

As soon as they were excused they hurried to the library and followed the same routine as last night, waiting until Madame Pince had left before emerging and re-lighting the lamps. Hermione found the book that Snape had told them to read quickly and she flicked through it reading out passages.

"Harmonic Magic is a little understood section of the magical world. It is a rare for it to exist at all, and even rarer for it to work properly and produce magic of any strength. It is also difficult to know if you have this ability other than testing a never ending line of wizards for compatibility," she paused and looked up at Draco who was listening intently. "Maybe you were right, we are special!" She bent her head and flicked a few pages. "Ooh, listen to this – Harmonic Partners are not always obvious, therefore increasing the difficulty of finding each other. With this condition being rare, it is difficult to have a definitive answer as to why some wizards are compatible and some are not. However..." Hermione's voice trailed off and she cleared her throat, "oh, this next bit isn't relevant." She went to turn the page but Draco put his hand out and stopped her.

"It sounded like it was getting interesting to me, give it here." He grabbed the book and Hermione leant back in her chair, biting her lip.

"Where were you? Oh, here it is – it is difficult to have definitive answer as to why some wizards are compatible and some are not. However, by far the most common sort of Harmonic Partners are those married or involved in a romantic relationship. In fact it has been suggested that Harmonic Magic will not work without the partners having some sort of affection for each other." Draco looked up at Hermione with a grin. "Is that why you wouldn't read it out?"

"No. I didn't see that bit," Hermione said defensively.

"Yes you did," Draco corrected her, "so, Hermione, are you harbouring some secret, unrequited desire for me?"

For once, Hermione stopped herself automatically jumping in with a defensive answer. Instead she leant forward herself. "And if I was, what would you do about it?"

Draco, who had obviously not been expecting this kind of answer, looked at her surprised. He moved closer to her and lowered his voice. "I might have to kiss you until you see stars."

Hermione could feel the book trembling in her hands as his wonderful voice washed over her. She couldn't even let her mind start to imagine what he was describing and she knew her face must be giving just a little of how she was feeling away. It was getting hard to disguise her overwhelming need for him. And she might not be an expert in this field but she was convinced that Draco was feeling something to. Unless he was just using his notorious flirting techniques on her. Oh god! What if that was what he was doing? And she was pinning all her hopes on it? She stood up abruptly. She was getting what she wished for and it was scaring her to death.

"I'll go and see if there are any more books about this." Before she could move an inch, Draco had also stood and he stepped in front of her, blocking her path.

"Oh, no you won't." His smouldering eyes were on her face, hypnotising her as always. "I think we should continue our chat about what would happen in you confessed a secret desire for me."

Hermione felt her heart beating at about a million beats a second. "Why does it have to be that way round?" her voice sounded croaky and she coughed to clear her throat. "Who's to say it isn't you harbouring a secret desire for me?"

"And if I was, what would you do about it?" Draco asked repeating her earlier question.

"Very clever, but stop playing games."

"Stop avoiding answering questions."

"Stop asking me questions."

"When are you going to be honest with me?"

Hermione flushed but defended herself anyway. "When are you going to be honest with me?"

Draco laughed. "I'm not sure you could handle me being honest with you"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You still haven't answered my question. If I'm harbouring a secret desire for you, what are you going to do about it?"

"It's not a relevant question because, you're not."

Without warning, Draco grabbed her around the waist and lifted her onto the desk they had been sharing. He then pulled her shoulders and body against him and put his lips within millimetres of hers.

"And how are you so sure of that? Do you think I go around telling every girl she's utterly beautiful?" Draco was whispering and she could almost feel his lips touching hers. Hermione felt every bone in her body turn to jelly. "And I did promise to turn you on in the library..." He let his lips very gently touch the side of her mouth, so light she could hardly feel it but she was beginning to melt. "Is this working?"

She was now physically incapable of answering and just managed to say his name, "Draco."

"Hermione..." Draco's voice was no longer smooth and cool and she felt him tighten his arms around her. She closed her eyes, knowing he was about to kiss her and not quite believing this was happening. His lips finally made contact with hers and Hermione found herself clinging to him as a wave of pure pleasure washed over her and she saw stars.

**They kissed! Hope you liked this, I always find it hard writing a kiss because I think it is impossible to do a Draco Malfoy kiss justice in words! Anyway let me know what you think and thanks for the reviews as always. x**


	22. Lowering the temperature

Hermione awoke the next morning and the previous day's events can back to her. Had she really been kissed by Draco? Really? She touched her lips and felt a tingle run through her. She'd never felt anything like that before in her life. His kisses were incredible and all the more so because she had been imagining what they would be like for so long. She had sort of hurried off after so that hadn't said very much to each other and Hermione wondered what it would be like today?

Transfiguration was first lesson and as she entered the classroom she looked around for him. He was in his usual place with Blaise. Ginny was standing at their desk talking to them. They all waved at Hermione as she entered the classroom, just like normal and Hermione was relieved. She really didn't want things to change dramatically overnight.

The lesson went well with Professor McGonagall in a lenient and happy mood. Hermione wanted to stand up and announce to the rest of the class that their professor's good mood was down to her and Draco and their performance at extra lessons. She then remembered they had a break from the extra lessons for a week, after that the professors had some even more advance magic planned, involving looking into each other's minds. Hermione wasn't sure how she felt about this but she put it to the back of her mind for now. She then remembered her meeting with Anthony and groaned. It wasn't that she didn't want to meet him and they did need to discuss the ball but it didn't seem right meeting another boy the day after she had kissed Draco. Draco! Her mind flipped – what was he going to think when she told him she was meeting Anthony? She was going to have to phrase it carefully so he thought it was entirely about the Ball. She decided to wait for him after class and tell him about it.

Her plans didn't work out because Professor McGonagall asked Draco and Blaise to stay behind for a few minutes to help her move some desks. Hermione walked with Ginny instead who kept looking at her strangely.

"So how are your lips this morning?" Ginny asked, not looking at Hermione.

Hermione stopped in her tracks – Ginny knew! How did she know? "What do you mean?"

"Don't act innocent with me. If I'd been snogging for hours in the library I'm sure my lips would be sore." Ginny grinned at her and Hermione blushed.

"It was one kiss! How do you know?"

"Well Draco told Blaise, Blaise told me...you get the rest," Ginny said. "What I want to know is why my best friend didn't tell me herself?"

Hermione pulled a face. "Draco told Blaise? Sorry, Ginny I didn't know how to tell you. And nothing actually happened until last night."

"So you haven't fancied him for weeks now then?" Ginny asked raising her eyebrows and Hermione realised that Blaise must have finally told her the whole story.

"Sorry! It's Draco Malfoy! I didn't think you'd understand and I wouldn't blame you. I don't understand it myself." Hermione looked suitably ashamed. Ginny grabbed her arm and pulled her into a quiet corner.

"Hermione, he's sex on legs! Of course I'd understand!" Ginny said in her usual blunt fashion. Hermione couldn't help but laugh at her description of him.

"I'm sorry! I was ashamed of myself for liking him and then Blaise confessed that he liked you and I ended up telling him about it. Sorry, sorry, sorry." Hermione gave Ginny's arm a squeeze.

"Never mind all that. I want details – how was it?"

"How was what?"

"The kissing."

Hermione giggled at her friend's enthusiasm. "It was one kiss. Don't get too excited, I'm still not sure if it actually means anything. It was all spontaneous."

"Oh, we need a lot longer than we've got now to go into where all this might be leading. I just want a quick summary of the kiss." Ginny wiggled her eyebrows.

"You're terrible!" Hermione said.

"Yeh I am. So how was it?"

Hermione looked at her friend who was obviously not going to give up. "It was...incredible."

Ginny did a little excited dance. "Hold that thought – we are going to continue this conversation!"

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Draco and Blaise arrived late to the lesson. Once it was over, Hermione left the classroom and then lingered by the door to wait for Draco. He saw her waiting as he left the room and came over.

"Hi."

"Hi."

They stared at each other for a moment.

"Hermione!" Another voice interrupted and Hermione dragged her eyes away from Draco's. It was Anthony. Hermione panicked as she hadn't spoken to Draco yet. "Are we still okay for later?"

Hermione stepped towards Anthony and tried to get rid of him quickly before he said too much. "Yes that's fine. I'll bring the notes Ginny has made about the Ball."

Anthony cleared his throat. "Well I did think that maybe we should save that and call an actual meeting about it. I thought tonight we could just meet up and have a walk around the lake."

Hermione felt herself growing hot. She could feel Draco watching them and she knew that this was now looking really bad.

"Erm...I'm not sure..."

"Just for half an hour? Come on Hermione, it would be nice to talk to you about something other than house unity." Anthony said and he smiled gently at her. If it hadn't been for Draco, Hermione was sure she would have been very happy to have this handsome young man, so obviously keen to spend time with her. But there was Draco and what was more he was standing just a few inches away.

"Well, it's just that...," Hermione said.

"It's okay if you're busy but I like you Hermione. I've liked you for ages and the House Unity thing has given me the chance to ask you," Anthony said this in his gentle voice with no trace of recrimination.

"Oh...I like you too...," she sighed. It wasn't fair to lead him on. She would have to be honest with him. "It's not personal, it's just that something has come up and it's all a bit complicated at the moment."

Anthony shrugged. "Okay."

"Sorry, Anthony."

He smiled at her. "It's okay. Just remember the offer is there when everything isn't as complicated."

"I will."

Anthony nodded and walked off smiling. Hermione turned round and met a pair of grey eyes.

"Had you arranged a date with Goldstein?" Draco asked and Hermione couldn't tell what he was thinking because he had that mask he wore on again.

"No, it wasn't a date. He asked me yesterday to talk about the Ball idea that Ginny has come up with." Hermione sighed.

"I was standing right here, Hermione. I'm not deaf! He just said to meet and walk around the lake! That constitutes a date." Draco wasn't shouting but his voice sounded tight.

"He didn't make it sound like that yesterday. I was going to tell you about it, after Transfiguration but you were kept behind and then I was going to tell you but Anthony came over before I could say anything..." Hermione's voice trailed off but Draco was still staring at her so she continued. "You just heard me cancel it. I didn't arrange it just now, he asked me yesterday."

"Was that the same yesterday that you kissed me in the library?" Draco didn't lower his voice and people were staring.

"You kissed me actually!"

"I didn't hear you protesting very much."

"I wasn't...I didn't..." Hermione stuttered over her words, conscious of people listening.

"I can't believe you arranged a date with Goldstein in the morning and then just six hours later you were kissing me! What happened to your high and mighty principles?" Draco was losing his temper and he glared at a 1st year who scurried off.

"I can't believe I'm getting a lecture from Draco Malfoy about principles! I'm surprised you even know what they are! You don't earn a reputation as being a two-timing, womanizer for no reason!" Hermione had lost her temper now, her frustration that he wouldn't believe her spilling over.

"Unbelievable! How has this turned into a discussion about me?"

"Why won't you listen to me? That isn't how it happened. I don't even want to go with Anthony but I'd already said I would. He asked me before you...before we...kissed." Hermione struggled with her phrasing.

"You don't get it do you? It isn't about the bloody kiss! Despite my reputation as a two-timing, womanizer if the most attractive girl in the school had asked me on a date anytime in the last few weeks, I would have said no." Draco's face had gone a shade whiter than usual. "Do you know why? Because I foolishly thought there was something between us, that's why, with or without a kiss!"

Hermione felt tears on her cheeks. He'd liked her for weeks? He wouldn't have gone out with anyone else! "You didn't tell me any of that. I said I'm sorry it was stupid. I cancelled it! What else do you want me to do?"

Draco's voice dropped to just above a whisper. "You shouldn't have arranged it in the first place." He turned and walked off leaving Hermione staring after him.

**Oh dear! A fight! Sorry if it was a bit obvious what the fight would be about but jealousy and misunderstanding always make for a good old argument. I didn't want Hermione to actually go out with Anthony as I don't believe she would do that with the way she feels about Draco. I just needed his interest in her to spice it all up a bit. Hope it was okay and not too un-original. Anyway, as usual I'd like a review - pretty please...x**


	23. Down to zero

A week later the notices for the Ball went up around the Castle causing a buzz of excitement. Hermione had no enthusiasm for it and kept her head down trying not to get dragged into any conversations. She and Draco had ignored each other since their argument and she was finding it exhausting. Everywhere she went he seemed to be there and it took a supreme effort to ignore him and carry on as usual. Ginny and Blaise had tried to get them talking but Draco was standing his ground and he refused to discuss it. Half of Hermione was totally and completely devastated that just as she and Draco had started to like one another it had all gone wrong. The other half of her was so angry she could cheerfully have hit him with a forbidden curse. He hadn't let her explain, he wouldn't talk to her now and he was being stubborn and pig-headed. And gorgeous. She caught sight of him just ahead of her in the corridor and slowed her step. She couldn't get his kiss out of her head, it kept popping up at the most inconvenient moments.

She noticed that Draco was the only other person waiting outside Charms and was about to do a u-turn when she stopped herself. What was she doing? Wasn't she supposed to be a Gryffindor? She'd done nothing wrong so why was she hiding away? She squared her shoulders and marched straight up to him. She then leant on the wall opposite him, removed a book from her bag and started flicking through it. She knew he was looking at her, she could feel those smouldering eyes on her.

"Hermione." His voice interrupted her thoughts and she looked up at him.

"I'm not in the mood for a fight, Draco."

"I just wanted to ask when the next Committee meeting is? It's just that I've got some stuff we can use from Malfoy Manor – decorations and stuff." He was speaking quietly and his face had the same mask on it.

"Tonight at 7pm."

"Right. Thanks."

Hermione looked back at her book, secretly pleased that he had spoken to her, never mind the subject matter. She knew this was her opportunity to start a conversation but her mind had gone blank and she couldn't think of anything to say.

"Hermione?"

She looked up at him again and he was looking at her properly now, his eyes connecting with hers.

"Is it okay for me to just turn up at the meeting?"

Hermione knew for definite now that this was just an excuse for him to speak to her and for the first time in days she felt a warm feeling.

"Yes, of course it is," she realised that every emotion she was feeling was probably written all over her face but she couldn't disguise her relief that he had spoken to her. She put her book in her bag and coughed. "Listen, Draco – I wanted to talk to you but..." she was interrupted in full flow by a group of 5th years who had been hovering just down the corridor. A tall, blonde girl had approached Draco, her friends hovering around behind her. Draco turned his gaze onto her questioningly.

"Hi," the girl said confidently and she smiled at Draco. "I don't suppose you know who I am? My name is Alicia Dunton. I'm in Ravenclaw."

Draco looked at her. "Hello Alicia Dunton in Ravenclaw. Actually I did know you, you're on their Quidditch team aren't you?"

Alicia smiled smugly and nodded. "Yes, yes I am."

Hermione had a sudden flash of comprehension as she realised exactly what Alicia had approached Draco for. She was going to ask him to the Ball! It had to be that! Part of Hermione immediately hated the blonde girl in front of her and another part had to admire her confidence and composure. How on earth had she worked up the courage to ask a boy out in front of all her friends. And it wasn't just any old boy was it? It was Draco Malfoy! She glared over at Draco, trying to get his attention but he was avoiding her gaze.

"What can I do for you, Alicia?" Draco asked in a voice Hermione immediately recognized. Pretty girl, Draco Malfoy, so now he was using his flirt voice. Hermione wanted to grab Alicia and fling her out of the window and she wasn't sure what she might do to Draco.

"I was wondering if you wanted to go to the Ball with me?" Alicia's voice had lost some of its confidence and her group of friends had gone quiet. Draco was his usual composed self and he studied the young girls face for a moment. Hermione was staring at him, not quite believing that he might actually agree.

"Well, thanks for asking me but I'm already going with someone." Draco's voice was kind and he flashed his breathtaking grin at Alicia.

"Oh, okay. Thanks." Alicia scurried off but Hermione didn't take her eyes off Draco. What did he mean he was already going with someone else? Who? And when did that happen? She felt tears forming in her eyes and turned away. How could everything have gone so wrong? How could Draco have already agreed to go to the Ball with someone? Part of Hermione had secretly believed that he wasn't going to stay mad at her and that they would have gone to the ball together.

"Hermione..." Draco spoke again but Hermione wasn't in the mood to speak to him now. She needed to concentrate on getting well and truly over him because all he would ever do was hurt her. She could see that now.

"Just leave me alone, I don't want to speak to you."

Before Draco could reply, a few other pupils arrived. After the lesson finished, Hermione practically sprinted away from the classroom. She then went and hid herself in a corner of the grounds, put her head in her hands and sobbed.

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

She was already seated when Draco arrived at the meeting and she avoided his gaze pointedly. She was sitting by Blaise so she was surprised when he suddenly stood up and moved a seat away. She stared at him wondering what he was doing when her view was blocked by Draco sliding gracefully into the seat that Blaise had just left. Right next to her. She was about to turn away from him indignantly when he winked at her and grinned. What the hell was he doing? She couldn't let him mess her around like this!

"What are you doing?" she hissed at him, trying to not draw everyone's attention to them.

"I told you. I have some decorations we might be able to use." Draco looked at her innocently.

"That's not what I mean. Why are you sitting by me?"

"Why not?"

"Draco!" Hermione's frustration spilt over and she huffed at him. "Stop messing me around. This might all be a big game for you, very amusing but I've had enough."

"I'm not messing you around, Hermione." Draco shuffled his chair closer and she glared at him. "I've been acting like an idiot. Ginny told me what really happened with Anthony."

Hermione wanted to kiss Ginny and she was about to let relief wash over her when something about his attitude stopped her. So he'd jumped to conclusions, wouldn't listen to her explanation, acted like a stroppy five year old for a week, asked someone else to the Ball and now he wanted to walk in here and have her complete understanding and forgiveness.

"I told you what really happened with Anthony but you wouldn't listen!" Hermione emphasised the word I. "How dare you think you can just decide we're friends again! How about an apology?"

"Apology accepted, thank you." Draco smirked at her, knowing full well she meant he should apologize to her and not the other way round.

"I'm not apologizing to you!" Hermione's voice had risen and everyone turned to look at her.

"What aren't you apologizing for, Hermione?" Anthony asked with a grin.

"Nothing." Hermione answered him grumpily and she shot a glare in Draco's direction.

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

She stood to leave as soon as the meeting finished and brushed past Draco, ignoring his look at her. As she walked down the corridor she realised someone was behind her and she was about to turn round to give him a mouthful when she saw it was Anthony.

"Hey, Hermione! Wait up!" Anthony ran to catch her up. She sensed immediately that he wanted to chat to her and she held her breath. She really wasn't in the mood for this right now. "Look, I know you said things were complicated..."

"Oh, Anthony. They are."

"Well, I still have to ask and if you say no then that's fine." Anthony gave her his gentle smile again.

"Ask what?" Hermione said not really wanting to know but not wanting to be rude.

"If you would go to the ball with me?"

"Look, Anthony...as I said the other day it's a bit..." Hermione automatically launched into her rejection speech when she was hit by a thought. Here was a perfectly nice, well actually more than nice boy asking her out. So her choice was - reject him and go to the ball alone and spend all night watching Draco with his partner or accept Anthony's invitation and actually try to enjoy herself. It didn't take long for her to make a decision. "well...actually Anthony...yes...yes I will go with you. Thank you for asking me."

"Really? You're sure? That's great, Hermione."

Hermione watched him walk off wondering if she had made the right decision. It didn't feel right but would anything feel right ever again?

**Oh dear! Bad decison for Hermione? Funny how things get so complicated after a silly argument. Hope it was Okay - please review, your reviews help with the story and give me ideas of how you would like the story to go. x**


	24. Challenge

Hermione had just left the Committee meeting and her head was spinning. At her own request, Professor McGonagall had attended the meeting. The professor had come to suggest that the Committee members might like to start the Ball by doing a formal dance with their partners. Hermione could tell that the Blaise and Anthony were less than enthusiastic about learning a formal dance but they had agreed. Anthony, his face a little flushed had pointed out to Professor McGonagall that he and Hermione were going together and therefore it would mean there would only be three couples on the dance floor. Hermione hadn't missed the look she received from Blaise when he heard Anthony's news so she avoided meeting his eyes for the rest of the meeting.

In the end they had decided that they would invite another five couples to do the formal dance with them so that the floor didn't look too empty and so that the dance would look more effective. Professor McGonagall suggested that the other couples were chosen from the winning Quidditch team and the winning teams in the quizzes. Hermione sighed knowing that Draco would have to be included one way or another. She had her thought confirmed a moment later when Professor McGonagall said that Draco Malfoy and his partner should be included as one of the other couples because of his contributions and ideas. Hermione began to think that fate was conspiring against her because one way or another she just didn't seem to be able to escape him.

Did she want to escape him? She was acting least like Hermione Granger than she had ever acted being completely indecisive and not able to stick to any decision. Her mind changed from second to second as to whether she should just ask Draco to forget the whole argument and take her to the ball instead of whoever it was he had asked. Then she would change her mind and think the opposite. After all, he had asked someone (she was till yet to find out whom) to the Ball so quickly that it could only mean he wasn't as attached to her as he said he was. It was easy for him to say that he had liked her for weeks but if he could just go and ask someone else out so quickly it meant nothing. They were just empty words.

Yet she still wanted him just as much as before and it was a constant struggle to deny herself each day. It hurt like hell to not just let things go back to how they were and she could so easily have just let herself sink happily back into their friendship or whatever it was turning into. But Hermione knew that if she let herself do that and Draco was just playing a game, she was opening herself to a lot more hurt.

She realised she had reached the common room and sighed. Tomorrow, she had to ask the other couples they had chosen if they would be willing to take part in the formal dance, including Draco of course. What fun that was going to be!

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

In typical Hermione fashion she decided the next morning that she would ask Draco first. She was absolutely dreading every second of it and she knew she would feel better once she had got it over with so she found herself hanging around outside the Slytherin common room, not sure how to go about getting to speak to Draco. Eventually she chose the traditional method and approached the door and knocked. It was opened quickly by Theo who didn't seem in the least bit surprised to see Hermione Granger standing there. She asked if Draco was in there.

"Yep, do you want to come in or shall I fetch him?"

"If you could fetch him, please." Hermione felt butterflies in her stomach and took a deep breath.

Draco appeared a few minutes later. He was dressed casually and his hair was messy and for a moment Hermione could do nothing but stare at him. He stepped out into the corridor and raised his eyebrows at her, questioningly.

"I knew you'd give into your longing for me eventually. Have you come to ask me to the Ball?" he said and Hermione opened her mouth to answer him but he continued smoothly, "aah! Silly me, I forgot you're going with Golden Boy Goldstein. Let him step on your toes at the Ball and then apologise. He's a good boy, just right for you so good decision, Hermione." Draco's voice was teasing but slightly bitter.

Hermione hated them being like this with each other but Draco was being grossly unfair. How could he throw that accusation at her when he had already asked someone else anyway?

"So, you're allowed to ask some bimbo to the Ball but I can't go with a perfectly nice boy if he asks me?"

"Perfectly nice? Is that what you're looking for? Sounds perfectly boring to me."

Hermione watched Draco as he said this. He was jealous! There was no denying it, he was jealous that she was going with Anthony! Well it was his own fault.

"Look Draco, I've got to ask you something so can we just try and be civil for two minutes?"

Draco grunted but said nothing more.

"Professor McGonagall wants some couples to do a formal dance at the beginning of the ball and she wanted you and your partner to be included." Hermione purposely said the last part of the sentence slowly.

"You'll have to find someone else. I've had enough of this whole unity thing. Count me out." He still hadn't looked at her and he went to turn and walk away but she grabbed his arm.

"Draco..."

"What?"

"I'm sorry for the other day after the meeting. I know you were trying to make things right again and I just threw it all in your face because I was mad at you."

"I don't care." Draco went to turn again so she jumped in front of him.

"Please don't say that."

The anger in Draco's face immediately disappeared. He stared at Hermione and she bit her lip.

"So how come I'm one of these special invitees then?" he asked. "Did you tell McGonagall what a good dancer I am?"

"It's because of all the help you've given the committee." Hermione said. She got her pen out and held it by her note pad. "So can I tick you off then?"

"Yes, you manage to tick me off almost every day."

She looked up at Draco and was surprised to see his eyes dancing.

"Tell Goldstein he's got competition."

"Draco, don't take this out on Anthony."

Draco leant closer to her and she held her breath. "I meant when that formal dance is going on, no-one is going to be looking at Golden Boy," he waved his arms out in front of him, "all eyes will be on Draco Malfoy..."

"Huh!" Hermione huffed and went to turn away but he grabbed her arm.

"...and his bimbo."

They stared at each other challengingly and then Hermione shook his arm off and walked away.

**Hee hee! The dance sounds like it might be interesting. I love Draco when he's being sarcastic, it's fun to write him like this. Anyway please keep reading I hope it's holding you're attention and you all want to read more. As usual all I need is a little review and I'll be happy. x**


	25. An eventful dance lesson

"No, no! Lift the arm, lift it!" Mrs Singleton grabbed Blaise arm and moved it further up Ginny's back. "She's not a sack of potatoes, boy!"

Hermione watched with amusement. The dance teacher was a rotund woman with large hands and feet and a bossy way of teaching them the dance. Mrs Singleton glanced round the room and her eyes fell onto Draco.

"You! Blonde boy, you seem to have grasped the basics. Bring your partner over here so we can show the others."

Hermione groaned. Oh no! Draco had been singled out, now they'd never hear the end of it.

"The basics?" Draco answered in a derogatory tone. "I think you'll find I can do more than the basics."

Professor McGonagall stepped over to Mrs Singleton. "This is Draco Malfoy, Mrs Singleton. Lucius Malfoy's son."

"Aah! Well that would explain the ability. Breeding will always show through."

Hermione groaned again and everyone turned to look at her. Draco had a smirk on his face and he raised his eyebrows at her across the room. Hermione turned away. Well at least she now knew who Draco's partner was. Pheobe Hardy was in Ginny's year, she was a quiet girl and not the type that Draco would usually go for. Except in looks, because she was stunning – petite and slim with large, brown eyes and beautiful dark hair that fell in waves to her waist. Hermione didn't know her at all, she had hardly ever spoken to her and as far as she had been aware, Draco didn't know her either. Anyway he must have had his eye on her and so there they were, looking incredible together. Stunning.

Hermione glanced at Anthony and lifted her shoulders. She and Anthony looked good together too. He was a handsome boy, tall and broad and he had lovely eyes. And he was turning out to be a pretty good dancer too. He moved gracefully and had picked up the dance steps quickly. Hermione felt a rush of affection for him and then felt terrible. He deserved better than her half enthusiastic feelings about him.

"At this point you will be in a large circle and this is where we swap partners, first to the left, then to the right. The ladies will always be the ones to move while the gentlemen stay in place." Mrs Singleton was waving her arms around to demonstrate. "We will always change partners using these same steps and then the dance will start again from the beginning. You...handsome boy and your partner with the nice hair...please come here so we can show the others the partner change with Mr Malfoy and his partner."

"That is Anthony and Hermione. Draco's partner is Pheobe," Professor McGonagall said to Mrs Singleton and Hermione could tell she was a little annoyed at Mrs Singleton's inability to use the pupils' names. Mrs Singleton, completely oblivious to Professor McGonagall's annoyance nodded her head.

"Yes, yes...come...come...," she waved her arm.

Hermione glanced round wondering who she had called handsome boy then she realised that Anthony was pulling her to the front. Had Mrs Singleton being talking to them? Hermione sniggered because it would have annoyed Draco that Anthony had been called handsome! And she was the girl with nice hair. She could warm to Mrs Singleton. Mrs Singleton arranged them as she wanted, boys on the outside, girls in the middle. Hermione met Draco's eyes for a moment and he grinned at her. She suddenly realised that she was about to have to dance with him because they were swapping partners. Bloody hell! That was all she needed.

They began the dance, going through the steps they had just learnt and then stopping in position so that Mrs Singleton could show them how to swap. She grabbed Hermione, none too gently around the waist and showed her the steps to move from Anthony to Draco. She then grabbed Draco and showed him where to put his arms around Hermione. Hermione tried to not look into Draco's face, staring at his shirt.

"Lift your head girl, he's pretty enough to look at," Mrs Singleton's forceful voice was in Hermione's ear and she lifted her chin. The rest of the class giggled and Hermione had to fight her embarrassment. "Now move closer. You must stand much closer. Mr Malfoy, place your hand around her, she's not breakable. Hold her like you mean it because we will need her to lean over and you will be her support. That's it, closer...closer."

Hermione shuffled closer and then she felt Draco grab her forcefully and pull her almost right up against him. She tried to think of anything other than her position so near to him but couldn't.

"Now lean...gracefully...not like you're throwing yourself in the river...," Mrs Singleton put her hand under Hermione's back and tried to bend her correctly. Hermione had the temptation to slap her hand away and tell her to stop bossing them around but she restrained herself. The woman was supremely annoying.

"Annoying old bag," Draco whispered in her ear and Hermione tried not to laugh.

"Right, repeat the whole thing again. Start with...Andy," Mrs Singleton said.

"Anthony." Hermione, Professor McGonagall and Anthony himself all corrected her at the same time and Draco chuckled.

"Yes...yes...now start here and now do the steps for the swap. Good...good...," Mrs Singleton did a running commentary as Hermione carried out the steps she had just learnt. She was then in Draco's arms again. She would never admit it in a million years but it felt so much better dancing with Draco than Anthony. He held her with just the right amount of pressure and moved with her gently and confidently. Didn't you just know that he'd be good at dancing? Was there anything he wasn't good at?

"No...no...no, Miss Granger. Lean after the three steps. Don't try and hold yourself up, let Draco support you. I'm sure you can trust him."

"Yeh, right!" Hermione mumbled and Draco smirked at her.

Mrs Singleton was man-handling Hermione again and it was beginning to really annoy her. Draco tightened his grip around her and glared at the dance teacher who didn't seem to notice.

"Right, now hold that position while I show Andy what he should be doing."

"Yeh, Andy obviously needs all the help he can get," Draco whispered in her ear again and although Hermione glared at him she was trying not to giggle. Draco pulled her closer and put his lips next to her ear. "This feels good...having you swooning in my arms..."Hermione tried to wriggle free but he wouldn't let her. "Watch it or Dragon Face will be over, pushing you around again." Hermione laughed again and Draco felt his arm slip. Hermione grabbed him but her foot slipped and she fell further backwards. Mrs Singleton was over in a flash.

"You're position has slipped," she pulled Hermione back again and Hermione felt her temper beginning to flare. The woman was so rough and rude. She was now pushing Draco's arm roughly into Hermione's back and Hermione could see Draco's annoyance on his face. "Lift here...no here..."

"Okay, okay...," Draco snapped and Hermione felt like she was about to join him. His eyes met hers and she tried to tell him to keep his temper. "Old bag," they said the words together in a whisper and then they both burst out laughing. Then suddenly it happened. In a split second Mrs Singleton went from bending over them to bolt upright. She then appeared to fly backwards as if she had been hit by a huge hammer until she hit the large desk behind her and crumpled to the floor.

Draco dropped Hermione who groaned and the rest of the class rushed over. Professor McGonagall pushed through them to Mrs Singleton who was sitting on the floor, rubbing her head and moaning.

"Quiet class!" Professor McGonagall raised her voice over the raucous. "Everyone please return to your common rooms immediately. We will resume dance lessons tomorrow."

Draco was bent over Hermione. "Sorry I dropped you. Are you okay?" She could see Anthony hovering around behind him.

"Yeh, I'm fine."

Without asking, Draco lifted her to her feet. Professor McGonagall had sat Mrs Singleton on a seat and someone had got her a cup of water.

"I really can't think what happened...one minute I was by Miss Granger and the next I was here across the room!" Mrs Singleton was looking white.

"I know it's very strange, try not to think about it. Just rest for a while." Professor McGonagall was soothing her. She turned to Anthony. "Thank you, Anthony. Everyone appears to be okay. I would just like a word with Draco and Hermione."

Anthony left the room, glancing over his shoulder as he left. Hermione felt the usual apprehension as Professor McGonagall lead her and Draco to the other side of the room.

"Do you know what you just did?" she asked. Hermione looked at her puzzled, wondering why they weren't already in detention.

"No. I didn't think I did anything." Draco said.

"Hermione?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"No. I didn't think I did anything either."

"You were in close contact...did you say anything?" Professor McGonagall appeared to be processing something in her head.

"No." They answered, quickly together not wanting to the professor to know what they had been saying about Mrs Singleton. She wasn't so easily fooled however.

"This is important, were you saying anything?"

"We called Mrs Singleton a name," Hermione confessed and Draco shot her a look.

"At the same time? Did you say it at the same time?"

"Yes."

"Were you looking at one another? Like you do when you use your connection?"

Draco and Hermione stared at their teacher suddenly understanding why she was asking all these questions. Was she trying to say that they had used their connection to throw Mrs Singleton across the room?

"We weren't using our connection, Professor. We wouldn't have done that to our dance teacher." Draco said quietly.

"Of course you wouldn't!" Professor McGonagall glanced over at Mrs Singleton who was still sitting in the chair. "But I believe that is exactly what happened. You used you're connection to...move...Mrs Singleton away from you."

"No, we didn't," Hermione protested but Professor McGonagall held her hand up.

"Not on purpose, Hermione. I mean the two of you used your connection unintentionally. You both wanted the same thing, you were in close contact and you spoke together. You both wished for something to happen and it did. You used your connection to get what you wanted."

Draco and Hermione were both staring at her open mouthed. Could they really have done that without thinking about it? They'd flung a woman across the room! That was scary.

"Is that possible?" Draco asked.

"Yes. It's a rare form of the connection. It's called Automatic Interpretation."

"But I wasn't thinking of a spell, Professor. When we've done it before we have always had to concentrate on a spell."

"I know. This is a progression from that. The connection interprets your request. You wanted to move Mrs Singleton away. It found the right spell and did it for you."

"Oh my god!" Hermione put her hand to her mouth in shock.

Professor McGonagall suddenly sat down heavily in a chair. "We are going to have to schedule some more extra lessons. You will need to learn how to control this and how to stop it."

"Why would we want to stop it?" Draco asked.

"Mr Malfoy, what if you and Miss Granger had both wanted Mrs Singleton...," Professor McGonagall leant closer to them "...dead?"

"Dead?" Hermione said loudly, horrified.

"I'm not suggesting for one moment that either of you would ever think that way about anyone. I'm trying to show you why you need to be able to control this. If you had both wanted her dead at the same time, then she would be DEAD." Professor McGonagall was being blunt on purpose to try and get her message across. Hermione had gone a strange shade of white and Professor McGonagall indicated that she should sit down. "I'm not trying to scare you, Hermione and we'll start the lessons tomorrow but I had to make you aware of the possible implications of this."

"Bloody hell," Draco said and for once Professor McGonagall didn't reprimand him about his language.

**Let me know what you think, I'm trying to keep the interest going because it's easy for a story to sort of lose momentum and drag out too long. Anway hope you like it - review's would be great. x**


	26. Questions and Answers

Hermione and Draco were sitting in Professor McGonagall's office. She was discussing what had happened yesterday and giving them some more information about it.

"I have spoken to Professor Snape and some wizards at the Ministry about what happened yesterday and they are all in agreement that you should be given some lessons immediately to help you learn to control the connection."

"If we don't know we're doing it, Professor, how can we control it?" Draco asked.

"Well, there should be signs that we will teach you to recognize when it is going to happen."

"Professor, is it really that likely to happen again?" Hermione asked. She'd been thinking about it all night. "I mean it isn't as if Draco and I spend all our time dancing together or being...that close..." Hermione's voice trailed off as she became aware how she was making it sound.

"No, I agree it was quite an unusual situation yesterday. However, Professor Snape and I have spent several hours last night trying to learn as much as we can about this and it is likely to progress. At first you had to work together to produce a spell, now it seems you have been able to produce the same affect without having to think about it. The likely next step, and this is well documented, is that you will be able to produce the spells, non-verbally, wand-less and without having to be in contact with one another. Eventually, you may be able to do this without even needing to be together at all. You will be able to do it from a good distance away."

"Wow." Draco said. "Incredible."

"I agree, Mr Malfoy. I'm sure you can understand why this needs to be harnessed and used properly." Professor McGonagall smiled at them. "No need to look so worried, Miss Granger, everything will be fine."

"Can the connection ever be broken?" Hermione asked and she saw Draco look at her suddenly.

"No." Professor McGonagall watched Hermione intently.

"Never?"

"No. And you won't be able to stop it getting stronger. There is only one way to stop the connection working and that is what I now need to ask you about." Professor McGonagall cleared her throat. "I realise this is delicate subject matter but I will need you both to be completely honest with me. Nothing you tell me will go further than myself and the other professors."

Draco leant forward towards the desk. "I don't want to break the connection even if we could. I think it's amazing." He glanced sideways at Hermione and she had the distinct impression that this comment was aimed at her.

"Hermione? How do you feel about it?"

Hermione bit her lip. "I don't know. I mean, it is amazing but the implications worry me." She didn't add that the fact she was permanently connected to Draco Malfoy for the rest of her life scared her to death whilst making her ecstatic at the same time.

"Exactly. That is why we need to make sure you are comfortable and confident with it." Professor McGonagall took a piece of parchment and looked down it. "If I could ask you these few questions? You've answered the first one but let me phrase it differently so that you understand the options. There is a way to stop the connection working and that is to put a large distance between you. When I say large I am talking hundreds of miles. The separation would need to be permanent; as soon as you were back together the connection would re-establish itself and begin to progress again. It is an option we must offer you. If you chose this option it would mean one of you, or even both of you leaving the school immediately and it would also mean that you would never see each other again." Professor McGonagall paused to let her words sink in. "I'm sure you can see that this is not an option to be taken lightly. It would also mean you were failing to use a unique and very important talent. However, it is on offer to you," she paused again. "If you could give me your initial reaction now but I will insist that both of you sleep on whatever answer you give. You can change your mind at anytime during this process. This is just a gauge of your feelings."

Draco and Hermione stared at her, letting her words sink in. Leave the school? Never see each other again? Hermione let these thoughts digest slowly. A year ago she would have leapt at the chance to never see Draco ever again! She already knew her answer and she was sure she didn't need to sleep on it.

"I don't want to leave school," she said and again Draco looked over at her. "And I wouldn't want to never see Draco again." She had her head down but she could see his profile. He was looking straight ahead again.

"Draco?" Professor McGonagall prompted. "If you would prefer to answer these questions separately we can do that, of course?"

"No, this is all about our connection. It would be silly to answer them separately," Draco answered. "I'm not bothered about leaving school, we finish in a few months anyway." Hermione bent her head lower, her heart sinking. She wasn't sure she could bear to listen to the next few words he was going to say so she shut her eyes. He said his next words clearly, "I am bothered about not seeing Hermione again. I don't want us to do that."

Hermione opened her eyes, her throat dry. She looked up to see him looking at her with a small smile and she returned it warmly. She felt a rush of emotion and took a deep breath willing herself not to start crying. Thank god he'd said that. Professor McGonagall was smiling at them both and Hermione knew that this was the answer she had wanted.

"Good. I'm very pleased to hear you both say that, especially after the relationship you have had over your previous years at the school." She nodded. "The next question is personal and again if you want to answer separately we can do that."

"No." Hermione and Draco said at the same time and Professor McGonagall smiled again.

"You seem to be doing a lot of things in unison!" she said. "Would you say that the two of you have established a friendship?"

"Yes." They did it again and despite the awkwardness of the situation all three of them laughed.

"Would you say that you have established a good friendship?" Professor McGonagall looked over at them both. "Maybe you could answer this one individually!"

"Yes." Draco's answer was short and Hermione could feel his tension. She just nodded. She could see where these questions were heading and she wasn't sure her voice would work properly. Professor McGonagall nodded her head.

"How nice that two people with a history like yours, can have moved on. So you understand why I need you to answer the next question, I have to remind you that in practically all other cases of this connection, the partners involved have been in a romantic relationship. There are very few cases where the partners are just friends."Hermione felt her face flushing already and she heard Draco cough. "Would you consider yourself to be more than just good friends?"

Hermione knew that she was being given a perfect opportunity to tell Draco how she felt about him. She had been trying over and over to do exactly that but she hadn't envisaged that when she did eventually tell him, it would be in front of Professor McGonagall!

"It's kind of a love-hate thing," Draco said with a smirk and Hermione pulled a face at him.

Professor McGonagall just smiled. "Very succinctly put, Draco," she said. "This isn't me prying. This is a very important and necessary part of dealing with all of this. The question I really need an answer to is do you have romantic feelings towards each other? I do realise that this is very embarrassing for you both, particularly in front of me." She turned to Hermione. "Would you feel more comfortable answering this question without Draco here?"

"Yes...no...no," Hermione stuttered and then sighed. The next words just left her without her even engaging her brain to think about them. "We kissed." She saw Draco stare straight at her but she wouldn't meet his gaze.

"I see," Professor McGonagall said kindly. "So there are some feelings between you other than just friendship." Hermione nodded and then lowered her head. Professor McGonagall looked back at Draco. "Draco? Maybe you could be a gentleman and answer for you both. It would help put Hermione out of her misery." Hermione looked up at her teacher with a small smile. Draco was staring straight ahead and for a minute Hermione wasn't sure he was going to answer. Eventually he cleared his throat and nodded.

"I can't speak for Hermione, of course. But I...really like her...not just as a friend and I was beginning to think that she might like me that way as well. I was going to ask her to the Ball with me but she wanted to go with someone else."

Hermione hadn't seen this coming and she looked up and glared at him. How dare he bring their argument into this right now! And how dare he make it sound like it was her fault! She then realised that he had just said he really liked her and not just as a friend.

"I didn't want to go with anyone else!" Hermione said indignantly but not angrily because she was absorbing his words. He really liked her and not just as a friend. Her stomach did a somersault.

"So why are you going with someone else then?" Draco demanded.

"Because you are!" Hermione became aware that Professor McGonagall was watching their exchange with interest and it registered somewhere at the back of Hermione's confused brain that she would have normally stepped in by now and stopped them arguing.

"What? So you expected me to attend alone? So I could sit all night watching you and Goldstein fawning all over each other?" Draco's eyes flashed angrily at her.

"At least I didn't find another partner just hours after we kissed each other!" Hermione said and then blushed. She couldn't believe she was having this discussion in front of her professor.

"What are you talking about? I only asked Phoebe after you told me Professor McGonagall wanted me to do the formal dance. I was planning to go on my own but you need a partner to do a formal dance with!" Draco said this sarcastically.

Hermione stared at him, her mind trying to sort things into some sort of order. She was beginning to forget Professor McGonagall's presence she was so caught up in their discussion. "But Draco I was there the day Alicia asked you!"

"Alicia? Who's Alicia?"

"The blonde, quidditch girl. Outside Charms, she asked you to the dance and you told her you were already going with someone!"

Draco had turned in his seat and he was staring at her, his expression was one she had never seen before. His eyes were even more smouldering than ever, deep grey and he blinked rapidly. He then shook his head.

"Are you telling me that you thought I had already asked someone? Just hours after kissing you? You really thought I would have done that?"

"That's what you said."

"I was just getting rid of Alice or Angela or whatever her name was."

"Alicia."

"Yeh, well I was just getting rid of her. It's the kindest way – just tell them you're already going with someone else."

"But that's why I said yes to Anthony..." Hermione's voice trailed off and they stared at each other. Hermione felt lightheaded and had to grab the desk for support. What a dim witted, idiot she was! Why the hell hadn't she thought of that? It was bloody obvious. A million thoughts rushed into her head at once along with the realisation that Draco hadn't asked someone else. He never wanted to go with anyone else. Professor McGonagall cleared her throat and Hermione turned to look at her. Had they really just done all that in front of their professor?

"Well, it would appear to me that there has been some confusion," Professor McGonagall raised her eyebrows at them. "I also believe that you have both just answered my last question very nicely, thank you." She smiled at them both wryly and they both had the good grace to look slightly ashamed.

**Well, firstly I'd like to say thank you very much for all the great reviews. I love your ideas and opinions, it definately helps with writing the story. I love it when you all seem to love Draco just as much as I do, and it's even better when you like my version of him. I do always try and keep him in character.**

**Secondly, I hope this chapter wasn't too fact filled. I wanted Professor McGonagall to ask them certain questions but it needed to seem realistic and therefore I had to explain why she would be asking them such personal stuff!**

**Thirdly, I hope you think they are both still in character (obviously I have to tweak them a bit) or it wouldn't be romantic.**

**And lastly, hope you liked their confessions. I didn't want them to say too much, even in this situation I'm sure they wouldn't suddenly declare their undying love for one another. And the mix up has come out in the open at last! Hurray! Keep reading, please review...thanks x**


	27. At your command?

Hermione tossed and turned and tossed and turned until she finally decided that there was no way in hell she would be able to sleep and that she should get up. Her mind was racing over all the events of the last two days - the whole connection and all its mind boggling implications and then Draco. Of course, Draco. He was never out of her mind, not for a second. And today he'd said he liked her, not just as a friend and that he didn't want to be away from her. He even said he didn't want the connection to break!

And then there was the Ball. She shook her head annoyed at herself for being so dumb. Why didn't the idea that Draco was just getting out of going with Alicia ever cross her mind? Now she knew it was seemed totally obvious. She felt a little flutter in her stomach because no matter how much she couldn't believe that someone like Draco might be interested in her, there was actually no denying it now. She'd heard it from the horse's mouth, so to speak! She sat up in bed suddenly. Why was she lying her running everything over and over in her head? She needed to speak to Draco, she wanted to speak to Draco. She felt a little tingle run through her and for the first time admitted that it wasn't just conversation she wanted to participate in with him! She giggled and grabbed her robe.

She sneaked out of the common room and padded, quietly along the corridors. She almost didn't care that she was breaking rules. It seemed a long way to the Slytherin common room but eventually she got there and stood staring at the door. Great idea! How the hell was she supposed to get in? Or ask for Draco? She stood closer to the door and raised her hand, actually thinking of knocking. Then she stopped again. She really, really wanted to speak to him but it wasn't fair to wake half the dormitory up was it? Even if they were all Slytherins! She chuckled again at her own joke. So much for being on the Committee for house unity!

Without thinking why she stepped forward and rested her head against the cool, wood of the door. She would have to wait untill morning, even though it would kill her! Suddenly the door disappeared from under her head and she lost her balance, falling forward against the person who had opened the door.

"Hermione?"

"Draco?"

"What are you doing?" Draco, who had grabbed her as she fell, held her back a little to look at her. "Why are you leaning against the Slytherin common room door in the middle of the night?"

Hermione stared at him, unable to believe he had just opened the door. She shook her head wondering if she was dreaming and none of this was really happening. "Why did you open the door?"

Draco pulled a face. "Errr...I don't know."

Hermione stared at him. "What do you mean, you don't know?"

Draco looked embarrassed and sighed. "I just woke up and then I knew that you wanted me to open the door."

"You knew? What do you mean you knew?"

Draco fidgeted about, looking uneasy. "I just knew...I could feel it."

They stared at each other for a moment, both of them absorbing what had just happened. Hermione was the first to speak.

"So...I was down here wishing I could speak to you, wishing I could get into the common room and you wake up and have a feeling that you had to come and open the door to me?"

Draco nodded. "Yep. Freaky or what?"

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Hermione asked.

"The connection."

"Yes."

"Bloody hell," Draco said again and he stepped out into the corridor. He shut the door and looked at Hermione. "Don't think you can make a habit of this, Granger. In the middle of the night, you decide you want something and I have the overwhelming urge to provide it for you!"

Hermione raised her eyebrows suggestively and giggled. "Lucky me!"

Draco's face broke into a huge grin. He then grabbed her hand and started to pull her along the corridor.

"Where are we going?" Hermione asked, trotting along to keep up with him.

"Astronomy tower, we need to talk."

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

It was a lovely, clear and warm night. They had settled themselves at the top of the tower and were both gazing out over the view.

"So, what were you hanging around the Slytherin common room for?" Draco asked gently nudging her on the shoulder. "Couldn't you bear to be away from me?"

Hermione shrugged. "Something like that," she stopped and turned to him. "Actually, exactly like that. I wanted to see you."

Draco's face had suddenly lost its smile and he stared at her for a moment. "Say that again."

Hermione looked up at him. "I wanted to see you," her voice sounded husky and she had to swallow a couple of times.

Draco continued to stare at her seriously for a minute and then suddenly his face changed to a smirk. "I'm presuming this all works both ways, so maybe I wanted you to come and see me, so I made you think you wanted to come and see me..."

Hermione burst out laughing. "You've lost me I'm afraid."

"So, was it just a need to see my handsome face or did you want anything else?" Draco asked.

"I just thought we should talk. I couldn't sleep because it was all going round in my head." Hermione frowned. "This is serious, Draco. I mean, this thing we can do it's incredible and scary and unbelievable."

"I know it is and even more so after what happened tonight."

"I just thought that we shouldn't be fighting. We need to be working together on this, supporting each other..."

"I agree."

Hermione stared at him. "I'm not sure I like it when you agree quite as easily as that."

Draco laughed. "Hermione! You've just been saying we need to work together and support each other. It wouldn't exactly be a good start if we can't even agree on that, would it?"

"No, I'm just not used to you being so co-operative."

Draco shuffled closer and Hermione looked up at him. "So, when are you going to tell Golden boy that he needs a new date for the Ball?"

"Oh god! I can't do that."

"I thought you understood what happened," Draco said but he didn't look particularly upset. "I thought you understood how it was all your fault." He grinned at her.

"It wasn't all my fault."

"Okay, 90% your fault," Draco conceded with a nod, "so when are you going to tell him then? Be gentle won't you, he seems like a nice lad."

Hermione twisted her mouth at him, trying not to rise to his bait. "I can't do that to him and we can't swap partners now because of the dance."

"Okay, I suppose I'll have to give you that. You'll just have to watch enviously as I elegantly guide Phoebe around the dance floor," Draco looked perfectly happy still.

Hermione couldn't help but ask. "Where did she come from? Have you been secretly lusting after her or something?"

"Jealous?"

"No, it's just I've never seen you have anything to do with her before."

"I haven't. I just saw her in the 4th floor corridor and thought I'd ask."

Hermione spluttered. "Just how shallow are you?"

"Very." Draco admitted. "She's pretty and clever."

"If you like that sort of thing."

"Jealous." This time the word wasn't a question it was a statement of fact. "Anyway, you need to answer me a question."

"Oh dear, what?"

"Who do you want to go to the Ball with?"

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked although she half knew what he meant.

"You can choose anyone, anyone at all. So who would you choose?" Draco's eyes were sparkling with amusement.

"You already know the answer to that."

"Maybe, but I'd like to hear you say it."

"Well I'm not going to."

"Okay, I'll say it then." Draco shuffled even closer, putting his arm around Hermione's waist. She knew she should be wriggling free but she didn't want to. She was sick of fighting it and he was being so incredibly teasing and flirty. "You want to go with me..." Hermione went to interrupt him but he held his hand up to silence her, "and I want to go with you. I always wanted to go with you." His voice had dropped lower and his lips were near her ear. She shivered, imagining him moving them closer, onto her neck. He moved suddenly so that he was in front of her, leaning over her, his arms supporting him on either side of her. "Just remember that after that first dance is over, it's every man for himself," his smile took the sting out of his words, "you might be going with Anthony but you won't be leaving with him."

**Well, not many chapters left now...hope you enjoyed reading...please leave a review. x**


	28. Working together

**Well, after all of yesterday's drama (and for once I don't mean within the story!) - normal service has resumed. Here's the next Chapter...**

It was the final dance lesson today and then they had their first lesson to learn about their new ability. Hermione had been to see Professor McGonagall and tell her about what had happened last night. Professor McGonagall had looked at her seriously and nodded.

Mrs Singleton hadn't been quite so forceful in her instructions since the incident and the pupils had now learnt the whole dance but Hermione felt under pressure and a bit stressed. On top of all this she and Draco seemed to be in some strange limbo land where they had both admitted an attraction to one another but wouldn't and couldn't take it any further. Hermione sighed at the complicated nature of it all.

As they did the partner swap, Hermione knew everyone would be watching Draco and his partner (be that Phoebe or herself, depending on which part of the dance it was). Every time she swapped to be with Draco he would smirk at her, move his hand a little lower on her back than he should and sometimes whisper little quips in her ear that made her lose concentration. She always pulled a face at him but really she actually really liked him being this way with her. It was sexy and felt intimate...she stopped her mind travelling any further down that route. At the same time she was overly conscious that she and Draco mustn't be thinking the same thing for fear that their connection might make them do something again. She purposely thought only nice things about Mrs Singleton, even when she was really annoying.

They were half way through the dance and it was time for the swap and she was greeted by the usual smirk. He leant close, his lips near to her ear.

"Still haven't dumped lover boy then?" he whispered.

"No! You know I can't."

"Meet me later?" Draco leant close as part of the dance.

"We have an extra lesson," Hermione whispered back to him.

"After the lesson."

Hermione felt a hundred little bubbles pop in her stomach and she missed a step. Draco covered it well for her and no-one noticed. She couldn't answer him because an intricate part of the dance was coming up and they weren't dancing so close together but her mind was racing. This was a new side of Draco and it shocked her. She'd watched him longingly from afar for such a long time and then his icy exterior had thawed so that they had become civil with each other and now friendly. This was a complete reversal though as he was now appearing to chase her, it was him asking if they could meet! Draco swung her around and it was time for her to step back to Anthony.

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

An hour later she found herself in a classroom with Professor McGonagall and Draco. Professor McGonagall had a pile of books in front of her that even Hermione found intimidating.

"I've been looking up some information on what you told me happened last night," she said. "I haven't been able to find very much so far but this latest occurrence is definitely a progression of your connection." She paused and Hermione and Draco looked at her, both of them sensing she was about to pass on an important piece of information. "It would appear that your connection is getting stronger and stronger which is fairly unusual. In most cases the connection may get stronger for a while but then stop. I think you should be made aware of how far this could progress." Again she paused and Hermione had to sit down suddenly.

"You're scaring me," she said in a whisper, her eyes wide.

Professor McGonagall then did something totally out of character. She came around her desk and took the chair next to Hermione, before placing her arm around her shoulders.

"I know it is all very overwhelming. It has also progressed at an alarming rate so it is perfectly understandable that this is making you feel uncomfortable."

"It's just feels like everything is changing and that it's all so permanent," Hermione sniffed, willing herself not to cry.

"I know. We will do everything we can to help you with this." Professor McGonagall tried to reassure her. She glanced up at Draco who was still standing. "And you Draco? How are you feeling?"

Draco felt distinctly uncomfortable being asked this by Professor McGonagall so he shrugged. "It's all a bit sudden. I don't think either of us have our thoughts straight about it yet." Professor McGonagall nodded and indicated that Draco should sit. She moved back behind her desk and resumed her usual, professional demeanour.

"Apart from last night, have either of you being feeling different about each other?" she asked. Hermione visibly cringed and lowered her eyes. After glancing at Hermione for a moment Draco spoke.

"Yes, I have."

This made Hermione lift her head and stare at him. What the hell was he going to say?

"I've been feeling her feelings," Draco shook his head obviously totally embarrassed.

"Could you explain further?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"I can tell how she's feeling," Draco was mumbling slightly and Hermione had never heard him sound like this. His usual smooth, sexy voice sounded rough. "When she's close, I can tell what mood she's in, especially if I touch her..." his voice trailed off.

"Hermione? Have you noticed this?"

"I don't know." Hermione knew this sounded pathetic but she really didn't know if she could tell Draco's mood or not. As soon as she was within 50 feet of him, her senses went into overdrive! She couldn't exactly offer that explanation though could she? Both Professor McGonagall and Draco were looking at her, waiting for her to elaborate. "I'm only just getting used to Draco and I being friends after all the years we hated each other...I'm having difficulty telling the difference."

Professor McGonagall nodded. "As I was saying if this continues to progress, what Draco has just described would be the next step. You would become tuned to one another's senses and emotions. He described it rather well saying he could feel what you were feeling. Last night, Hermione, you unknowingly projected your feelings to Draco and he awoke knowing that you wanted him to open the door. I have to point out that only strong feelings, things you really want to happen or strong emotions will have this affect," Professor McGonagall smiled, "you won't be able to tell if Hermione's just feeling a bit grumpy," she joked.

"Oh, I can already do that," Draco chuckled at his own joke and despite her mixed up feelings, Hermione couldn't help but grin. "Her face gets all screwed up and she bites her lip."

"I do not. I only bite my lip when I'm nervous."

"Yeh, you do it then as well."

Professor McGonagall was smiling at them across the desk, looking highly amused.

"Let us see if we can control this a little. Don't expect too much, this first lesson."

Without any further warning a little, yellow bird appeared around Draco's head. It fluttered around him and flew close and he had to duck to avoid it. Another one appeared around Hermione's head and she waved her hand at it. Another appeared and then another, each intent on diving at them until they were both flinging their arms around aggressively. Hermione knew that she was being tested on controlling her annoyance but she was about to fail. One bird hit her straight in the ear and it hurt. She saw another hit Draco directly in the eye and he cried out.

"Professor!"

"I need you to move close as always, hold each other," Professor McGonagall spoke slowly and clearly, "you obviously both want the birds to leave you alone..."

"Just a bit!" Draco said sarcastically as he ducked from another attack.

"I want you to do it in a humane way. Don't fling them away with a spell - just think that you want them to sit on the window sill. You don't want to hurt them. Concentrate."

Hermione felt Draco's arms slide around her and she took a shuddering breath. Her emotions were alight and she knew her heart was thumping wildly. This connection she had with him was now something she could feel, almost tangible. She locked her eyes to his again and used all her effort to make herself think of nothing except what Professor McGonagall had asked them to do. It took a few moments but one of the birds fluttered away, twittering and flapping and eventually landing on the window sill. He was followed by the others, slowly doing the same until all the birds were on the sill.

Hermione couldn't tear her eyes from Draco's, she was drowning in them. There was an electricity in the room, Hermione wouldn't have been surprised to see sparks. Her breathing was shallow, her skin tingling, her emotions jangling.

"Incredible." Professor McGonagall spoke quietly, she was over by the window, examining the birds. Hermione and Draco stepped away from each other and turned to her. She looked up at them. "That was amazing, the control and the power at once and on your first attempt. You are picking everything up quickly, you seem to have mastered the technique. Very, very well done."

Hermione took a long shuddering breath and both Draco and Professor McGonagall came over to her.

"Are you okay, Hermione?" Professor McGonagall asked.

Hermione nodded. "Yeh, that felt amazing."

Professor McGonagall turned to Draco questioningly. "Draco?"

He had his head down and Hermione watched, waiting for his reaction. Suddenly he lifted his head and grabbed Hermione, pulling her against him.

"Hermione feels eternally grateful to me for helping her unleash her hidden powers," Draco screwed his eyes up as if he was concentrating and it took Hermione a moment for her to realise that he was messing around, pretending to read her feelings. "Let me see..." he said as if he was reading a crystal ball, "she thinks I'm wonderful...and she's hungry." Draco's face broke into a devilish smirk and after glancing quickly at Hermione he turned to Professor McGonagall who was also smiling at him. Hermione couldn't believe he was joking around in front of their strictest professor and that she was finding him amusing.

"I think you might find that is what you would like Miss Granger to be feeling, Mr Malfoy, rather than what she is actually feeling," Professor McGonagall said. Draco grinned again and put his head to one side, as if he was listening for something.

"Ooh and now she's really, really mad at me and about to hit me..." Draco let go of Hermione who did exactly that.

**Hope you liked it...it is leading up to certain things I need to happen...let me know by reviewing. Your reviews helped me sort the problem yesterday so thanks so much for all of them again. x**


	29. Togetherness

When they left the classroom they both felt exhilarated. Until now, their new power had scared Hermione and she had felt it was out of her control. She also knew it bound her strongly to Draco. She didn't mind that in one way, of course but in another way it was as if the connection had taken over everything else completely. She could not longer tell which were her real feelings and which were from the connection. She also suspected that some of Draco's new found enthusiasm to spend time with her was purely because of their connection and she really didn't want it to be just because of that.

"Are you okay?" Draco asked. "I couldn't tell if it was freaking you out."

"It does freak me out a bit," Hermione admitted. "But it feels amazing at the same time. When we controlled those birds it was as if all my senses were heightened."

Draco nodded. "I know, it's incredible," he seemed a little hesitant and Hermione stopped walking to look at him.

"What's the matter?"

"You never answered me when I asked if you wanted to do something after this extra lesson."

Hermione put her head to one side. "That might have had something to do with the fact I was being thrown around the dance floor at the time!"

Draco grinned at her. "Don't you mean – guided expertly by your partner? So – do you want to do something? Shall we go to the Astronomy Tower again?"

"You don't have to spend time with me just because of this connection," Hermione offered. She hoped she was right in thinking that wasn't why he was asking her but she felt she had to offer.

"I know that. I don't do thing I don't want to do, you're not dealing with Saint Potter now." Draco's voice was laced with sarcasm and Hermione sighed.

"Don't start on Harry again, for heaven's sake!"

"I'm not. You just seem to think that I'm capable of being nice and I'm not." Draco kicked the ground with his shoe.

"You really do talk a load of dross sometimes," Hermione raised her eyes to the ceiling. "I think we've gone a little past pretending to each other haven't we? I know you like to keep up the bad boy image but I'm not fooled."

"It's not an image."

"Yes it is! You walk around like you don't give a damn about anything but I know you care about lot of things," Hermione grinned at him. "Anyway if you're not nice why should I come to the Astronomy Tower with you?"

Draco looked at her from beneath his fringe. "Maybe you fancy a little taste of evil?" He flashed a grin at her that could have melted ice and she felt a familiar flutter in response.

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

The view wasn't as clear at the top of the tower tonight and there was a slight damp feeling in the air but they settled themselves by the top window, regardless.

"So how do you feel about me being able to sense your moods?" Hermione asked.

"Why don't you grab hold of me and find out for yourself?" Draco's comeback was quick and clever and Hermione giggled.

"I wonder why you seem to be able to read my feelings so much better than I can read yours." Hermione frowned as she considered this.

"Because you won't let yourself go. You have to be willing to stop thinking with this," Draco pointed at his head, "and just let the connection do the work."

Hermione raised her eyebrows at him. "Whatever happened to Mr Cynical? I can't believe Draco Malfoy just said that. You'll be turning into Professor Trelawney if you're not careful!"

"Ha ha. Maybe I should have just said you were uptight?" He smirked at her and she glared back at him.

"I am not uptight!" Hermione moved closer and linked arms with him. "Right – have a feeling and I'll try and read it."

Draco burst out laughing. "I can't just have a feeling! You heard Professor McGonagall, it has to be strong emotion or need. And linking arms isn't going to do it, Hermione." He leant closer suggestively and pulled her against him, moving his arms around her waist and placing her hands on his chest. "We have to be really close..." Hermione giggled again, enjoying all this immensely. Enjoying it far too much in fact, because Draco now had a smug expression on his face. "And if I'm reading your emotions correctly, you're not at all upset about being this close to me."

Hermione closed her eyes in frustration. She had forgot he could read her so well. She needed to get a grip of her emotions or he would know exactly what she was thinking and she wasn't ready to deal with that yet.

"I think you're not as good at reading me as you think you are."

"Really? Maybe I'm not close enough?" Draco slid his hands down her back until they were resting on her hips, he then pulled her even closer against him until she felt her cheeks grow hot at their increasingly intimate contact. He then moved his head closer. "Mmm...I think I was right the first time. I can feel adoration, yes, complete adoration along with appreciation and what is that other feeling?" he put his lips next to her ear, "aah! I've got it!...Lust."

Hermione wriggled free and stood facing him with her hands on her hips. He probably wasn't far off the mark with his guesses but she knew he hadn't felt all that, he was just making it up. She grinned at him.

"I don't think that was reading, Draco. I think that was you dreaming."

Draco laughed, a proper deep chuckle. "Come back here, I'm just teasing you. Let's see if you can read me." He grabbed her and pulled her close again. "Now, I need to feel a strong emotion, how are we going to do that?" He was being suggestive again and Hermione tried her very best not to find him amusing but failed.

"I could kick you really hard, I'm sure that would provoke a strong, emotional reaction," she said with another grin. "Or I could dangle you from this top window using my wand...that would work as well."

"Or you could kiss me." Draco wasn't grinning, he was just leaning close, his eyes studying her face. She was about to answer him when she felt something. It was like a huge, warm wave of sensation hitting her full force, washing over her. She'd never felt anything like it before, it was like staring at the sun, letting it's heat touch every part of her and yet not being blinded. It felt like she was being wrapped in the softest, warmest, blanket she had ever felt making her feel completely at peace and yet at the same time exhilarated. She realized that it was almost physical, she could feel it, she could almost see it, she could see Draco's emotion!

She stepped away suddenly, the shock knocking her backwards. Was this how Draco had experienced it? No wonder he was so enraptured with it! He was staring at her, his face excited.

"You felt it, didn't you? You felt how I was feeling?"

Hermione had to take a deep breath before she could answer, "yes..."

Draco stared at her for a long moment and then he spoke in a quiet, serious voice. "So now you know."

**Oooh! Intimate or what? Imagine having that connection with someone. Actually imagine having that connection with Draco Malfoy! They are really getting close now, hope you all like how it's progressing. Obviously the feeling of attraction is now mutual. It' the Ball next...keep reading and review...thank you x**


	30. Mmmmm

Hermione and Anthony were the first ones in the Hall because Hermione had wanted to check everything one final time. Anthony was being his usual, patient and tolerant self and Hermione was grateful to him because she was a nervous wreck.

The first guests started to arrive and the band finished warming up and started to play. The lights were dimmed and suddenly it felt like a party.

"Can we sit down now?" Anthony asked. "You need to relax, Hermione. Everything is in place, it's all going to be great."

Hermione nodded and she did as he asked. She was being unfair to him so she tried to relax a little. "I know, sorry Anthony."

"It's no problem."

Anthony was good company and he chatted away to her until Hermione realized that the room was now full. Professor McGonagall announced the formal dance and Hermione took her place with Anthony. This was the first time she'd seen Draco, as she hadn't seen him enter the room. She dared a glance over at him and immediately wished he hadn't because the way he looked made her weak at the knees. Draco turned heads every day of his life but in his formal suit with his hair slightly tousled he was completely, totally and stunningly gorgeous. Hermione shocked herself by having this thought because it was over the top, even for her. The music started and she dragged her eyes back to Anthony and tried to concentrate.

The part where they swapped partners was approaching and Hermione could already feel her palms getting sweaty. How was she supposed to deal with this? She already had a huge crush on him, he now looked like god's gift to the earth and on top of that there was the whole feeling each other's emotions thing! What she had felt from Draco last night still shocked her, the force of it as well as the nature of it. She didn't dare give the emotion he had projected a name, let alone dare to believe he felt that about her but she couldn't ignore the feelings that had washed over her. She knew it had to be real because she'd felt it from him and she really needed to tell him she felt the same. He must have felt it back from her but he had never even mentioned it.

Suddenly, she was in Draco's arms and they followed the practised steps. Hermione's heart was racing, her breathing quick and uneven and she was seriously losing control of herself. She missed on step, then another, and then she was too quick on the leaning part. As Draco pulled her closer she met his eyes which were worried and questioning.

"What's the matter? You were doing fine," he whispered. She shook her head, totally unable to answer him and he leant in again. "Just relax, I've got you. Let me lead." Their eyes locked now and Hermione felt her breathing slow as she let Draco guide her. She couldn't stop looking at him and he was returning the favour, his eyes were the darkest shade of grey she had ever seen them, smouldering.

The dance ended and Hermione went with Anthony to get a drink. She couldn't concentrate on him though and she knew she was being rude. She shook herself, she didn't want to hurt him. She asked him if he wanted to dance again and was rewarded with a grin. As they danced, she noticed Draco sitting close to the dance floor with Phoebe and another couple she didn't recognize. Ginny and Blaise were also dancing and halfway through, Blaise deftly swapped partners making both Hermione and Ginny giggle.

"Where have you been?" he asked as he whirled Hermione around, not at all in tempo with the music which was fast and lively.

"What do you mean? I've been here all night."

"I didn't mean tonight. I meant lately. I've hardly seen you."

"Oh, I know. It's all the organization for this! Which I have noticed you and Anthony left entirely to Hannah and I!"

"I believe we should always play to the strengths of the committee members," Blaise grinned at her and she pulled a face at him.

"What an excuse! Anyway with that and all the extra lessons with Draco..."

"Aah yes! The extra lessons," Blaise said raising his eyebrows.

"What's that supposed to mean? Why are you saying it like that?"

"I bet you've been enjoying your extra lessons haven't you, Hermione?"

"Get lost."

Blaise laughed. "After the official extra lessons finishes, has there been any extra, extra lessons? If you know what I mean!"

They passed by Draco and Blaise gave him a silly little wave. Draco looked at him puzzled but amused.

"Unfortunately for me I know exactly what you mean!" Hermione said. "And yes there has been some extra, extra lessons."

"Woo hoo!"

"But not like that!"

"Liar. I knew my plan would pay off," Blaise said smugly.

"What plan? You are all talk and no action. You haven't done a thing!" Hermione chastised him.

"You're getting on with Draco aren't you?"

"Yes but it's nothing to do with you! It's only because of the connection."

Blaise grinned. "I may not have done very much until now, but I'm about to make up for it."

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, suspiciously.

Blaise grinned again and before she realised what was happening he had stepped to one side and Draco had taken his place. Blaise gave her a little wave and drew the shape of a heart in the air with his finger.

"He's completely mad!" Hermione said but with affection.

"Yep, mad as hell," Draco agreed.

Hermione glanced round anxiously. "Where's Anthony? I don't want to leave him on his own."

Draco inclined his head to the side of the dance floor and she saw Anthony sitting with Phoebe. They were both laughing and Hermione turned back to Draco, narrowing her eyes at him.

"How did you manage that? What did you do?" she asked suspiciously.

"Nothing! I did nothing! Blaise and Ginny re-introduced them."

Hermione saw Blaise and Ginny joining Anthony at his table. Sneaky lot!

"What do you mean? Re-introduced?" she asked picking up on Draco's words.

"Phoebe asked Anthony out, several times I think but he always turned her down. He was smitten on someone else, can't think who, some Gryffindor bookworm..." Draco let his words trail off and smirked at her. Hermione went a little pink. Draco nodded over at Anthony again. "He seems to be getting over that crush now and warming to Phoebe, if you ask me."

"That's why you asked her isn't it?" The pieces fell into place for Hermoine. "You didn't just happen to see her in the in the 4th floor corridor, did you? You've engineered all this!"

"Of course I did! And after yesterday you should also understand exactly why," Draco said and Hermione felt her heart rate increase, knowing that this subject had to come up. "Now clear your mind of all other boys and focus your concentration entirely on me."

Hermione grinned at his terminology. They danced together in amicable silence for a while and for the first time this evening, Hermione began to relax. The song changed to a slower tempo and Draco moved close.

"We haven't talked about yesterday," his voice was low.

"I know."

"You did read my feelings didn't you?" Draco asked "I mean, if it wasn't clear we could connect again right now and I'll show you."

"No!" Hermione was quick to reply. As much as she would love to feel that again, given how she was likely to react it was not a good idea in the middle of the dance floor with everyone watching them. As he had moved closer, she had already felt all her senses coming alive again as if Draco had flicked a switch. His hands were on her hips, too low to be considered polite when dancing with a friend. She could smell his cologne, feel his breath on her neck and she was suddenly aware of every little move he made.

"You look incredible, by the way." Draco was whispering now, his lips next to her ear and she shivered. "Very, very sexy."

Hermione tightened her grip on him, afraid she might fall if she didn't. Only Draco Malfoy could pay such a lavish compliment and manage to make it sound like the most seductive, breathtaking sentence ever said. She couldn't breathe now, her mind was racing, her body reacting to his words and his gentle but provocative actions. He was seducing her in the middle of the dance floor with half the school watching and despite herself she was enjoying every second of it.

"Draco..." she said, half pleading with him to stop and half begging him not to.

"So I like you..." his lips gently touched her ear lobe, "I more than like you and I've shown you just how much..." he moved his mouth lower onto her jaw, touching her skin like a feather, "you like me..." he kissed her neck now and she arched her head instinctively, "mmmm...keep reacting like that and who knows where this will end..." his voice was sending her crazy and she had now forgotten they were in full view of half the school, her eyes were closed as she began to drown in pure sensation "so why are you fighting it, Hermione?"

His question brought her back to her senses for a second and she pushed him away gently. "I'm not, I'm just not as good at this as you are."

He stared at her for a minute and then without warning, he grabbed her arm and pulled her along with him towards the doors.

"Where are we going? What about Anthony?" Hermione asked as she followed him.

"He's fine and we're going to have a long overdue chat."

**Nearly there. I had to take a deep breath after writing the little kissing bit at the end and try not to let my imagination run away with me...Hope this one was good and as always I feel sad the story is ending. I'm already thinking of my next one...a little review would be great and any suggestions what you'd like to see in the next story or anything you think I could do better. Also, which Draco would you like next time? Nasty who turns nice or already nice? x**


	31. United

Hermione let Draco lead her from the Hall and out into the grounds. It was a lovely evening and he led her to a little bench. He didn't ask her to sit, just pulling her down next to him before turning to her.

"You know I can't be lying to you, Hermione. This connection thing doesn't work like that," his voice was gentle with no accusation.

"I know."

"I showed you how I feel, I can't pretend so you know it's true."

"I know."

"So why the hesitation?"

"I had to come to the dance with Anthony, we discussed all that. I wanted to come with you," Hermione wanted to show him right now how much he meant to her but as usual she was struggling with expressing herself. "You can feel my emotions so why are you questioning me?"

Draco's eyes scanned her face. "I can feel that you like me..."

"Like you? Is that all you feel from me? That I like you?" Hermione asked incredulously.

"No...I know you have deep feelings for me...but I always feel a hesitation, like you're holding something back," Draco put his hand on her cheek and she felt her whole body react to this little, simple gesture. "I showed you exactly how I was feeling, no holds barred."

"I know but I'm having trouble believing that you could feel like that about me!" Hermione felt her emotions escalating and tried to get a grip. "Look at you! You're lusted after by every female you come within a 50 mile radius of and for good reason. We've hated each other for six years! This, all this now is totally unbelievable!"

Draco took her hands and sighed. "Yes, why would I like you? I mean clever, funny, caring, beautiful...why on earth would I like all that? And I don't care if there are hundreds of girls after me...I'm only connected to one."

Hermione finally let herself believe. She sat and stared at him letting his words sink in and she let herself believe. She knew he hadn't been pretending, he couldn't do that but she had felt so shocked by everything.

"I've liked you for ages," Hermione confessed awkwardly.

"Liked?" Draco asked.

Hermione blushed. "I've had a...crush on you since we came back. Way before the whole house unity thing..."

Draco was smiling but he looked surprised. "Really? I didn't know, I thought you still hated me."

Hermione shook her head. "Blaise knew and then Ginny..."

"Oh," Draco said still sounding surprised. "And is it still just a crush?"

Hermione didn't hesitate. "No."

"I want to feel you," Draco said and they both laughed quietly at the double entendre. "No hesitation this time, Hermione. Not now."

She nodded and he wrapped her in his arms, his eyes locking to hers. The switch flicked again and Hermione's senses began to sing and the warm, heat spread as she let Draco's emotions take her again. This time it was more intense and she knew she was letting her own emotions flow to him freely. It was becoming red hot and she was beginning to melt as her breathing increased, her heart thumping, every part of her alive and tingling. And the waves kept coming, washing over her, making her sigh. She heard Draco murmur in her ear but she could no longer process any thoughts because she was existing now on pure sensation. She was no longer aware of her surroundings, she felt like she was floating in a cloud, surrounded by the increasingly white hot heat.

And then suddenly she was back on the bench and Draco was still next to her, just inches away. He was staring at her, his face flushed.

"Wow," he whispered.

"Did you read me loud and clear that time?" Hermione asked with humour.

"Yes, loud and clear," Draco grinned back at her now. "You had chicken pie for dinner."

Hermione laughed. "I don't think it works quite like that!"

"So did you read me loud and clear?" Draco asked and she nodded. "Do I have to bother to say it?" He grinned cheekily at her and she hit his arm.

"You're not supposed to ask! You're just supposed to say it!"

"I can't now, the moments gone." Draco chuckled. Hermione hit him again but she loved that he wasn't being all ridiculously romantic. It wouldn't have suited them somehow. She stared at him for a moment but only for a moment because her hesitance had gone. She leant in closer to him and whispered in his ear.

"Let's see if we can connect on another level..."

She saw Draco's eyes open wide in surprise at her words but she continued to lean in and placed her lips on his. Connection complete.

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

It was three years since they had left Hogwarts. Hermione was completing her report on her latest project for the Ministry. She had got a position straight from school and was, not surprisingly doing well. She loved her work and she liked her colleagues. Even now, she sometimes missed Hogwarts but she was happy and content.

It had been a bumpy ride, Harry and Ron hadn't been able to accept her relationship with Draco and Ron had only just started speaking to her again. Ginny had been a big help, having to break the news of her relationship with Blaise to everyone as well. Harry had accepted this better than Hermione thought he would perhaps because he and his new girlfriend were now engaged and he was happy.

Hermione realized her mind was wondering and tried to concentrate on finishing the end of her report when suddenly it happened.

_**I found Mrs Birgleford to be confused and unable to...fancy taking me out tonight then?...**_

Hermione's pen despite still being in her hand jumped into action and wrote the final part of the sentence itself. She groaned because it had taken her almost all afternoon to complete this report and she'd asked Draco a hundred times not to do this. They could sort of tune in to each other, even at a distance away and if one of them was holding a pen, they could control it and send messages. Amusing at first and useful sometimes but frustrating when Hermione was at work. It was one of the many developments that their connection had created as it had continued to intensify. Their relationship seemed to feed it and sometimes Hermione felt like it controlled them rather than the other way round. She took her wand and deleted the last few words on the page and then she smiled despite herself. She grabbed a piece of paper and wrote her reply.

_**- thanks for that...it was a great way to finish my 5 page report...**_

Her pen moved again, still in her hand but totally of its own accord.

_**- oops! Sorry about that. So was that a yes or a no?**_

_**- of course it was a yes! Now get lost and let me finish up here.**_

_**- nice way to talk to the love of your life! Get lost! **_

_**- you know I don't mean it. Anyway, let's go somewhere quiet, I want to talk to you.**_

_**- Oh? What about?**_

_**- later.**_

Hermione put her pen down so that Draco couldn't quiz her any further about later. She needed their discussion to be face to face.

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

She was a bit late and the restaurant was crowded. She scanned the tables for Draco and spotted him towards the back. She made her way over and he greeted her with his devastating smile which she still wasn't immune to.

"You're late." His voice held no accusation and he continued to smile.

"I know, sorry. Let's order straight away."

The waitress came over and bestowed a huge smile on Draco. Hermione just ignored her, she had grown used to Draco's constant female attention and it didn't bother her. She knew he was only interested in her and would only ever be interested in her. They studied the menu and Hermione tried to decide between the Chicken and Pork.

"I'd like the pate to start please and the Swordfish main," Draco ordered his meal and the waitress went to turn to Hermione but Draco continued speaking. "Hermione would like the mushrooms to start followed by the Chinese Pork."

The waitress stared at him startled for a moment before writing the order down and leaving. Hermione kept her giggle in until she'd gone.

"You're so horrible to them when you do that and they must think I'm a total doormat!"

Draco smirked wickedly and sipped his drink. "It's fun."

"Anyway how did you know I wanted the Pork? I hadn't made my mind up between that and the Chicken," Hermione asked. Draco was now so in tune with Hermione's emotions that he could feel her decisions as she made them. It wasn't mind reading, it was feeling reading but it was a constant source of amusement for him.

"I know, I made your mind up on that for you," Draco said with a shrug.

"Huh! Maybe you are becoming a control freak!" Hermione huffed at him.

"So what was it you wanted to talk to me about? I'm intrigued." Draco asked.

Hermione bit her lip in her usual fashion and looked around trying to assess if she should say anything now or wait until after the meal. She decided afterwards would be the best decision. Draco pulled a face at having to wait but didn't ask her again until dessert had been taken away.

"Okay. Now, I need to know now," he said impatiently.

"I've got something to tell you..." Hermione took a deep breath and Draco frowned at her.

"You're really nervous...and scared..." he read her across the table and she moved backwards as if this would stop him. "I noticed it yesterday too but I thought it was about your report."

"Stop guessing and stop reading me!" Hermione said. "You're making me worse."

"What's the matter?" Draco looked concerned now and he leant closer.

"Nothing...at least I hope you don't think it's something bad...there is no easy way to say it so I'll just come out with it..." Hermione stuttered.

"You're rambling, get on with it," Draco said, he then realised this sounded harsh and added. "It's me, Hermione. You know you can tell me anything."

"I know," she smiled, just a little smile before continuing. "How would you feel about a small, quick trip up the aisle?"

Draco's mouth dropped open and his eyes almost popped out of his head. Just then the waitress appeared and asked if they needed anything else. Draco shooed her away rudely.

"Are you proposing to me?" he asked.

Hermione shrugged. "Yes...I mean...I am but...that's not it..."

"What the hell more can there possibly be?" Draco asked, still looking totally in shock.

"Well, we may need to be quick because...I'm pregnant." Hermione bit her lip again and watched his reaction through narrowed eyes. She saw him turn a whole new shade of white and then he leant back against the chair, running his hands through his hair. When he didn't speak she prompted him. "Draco? I'm sorry, I know it's a shock. Believe me you are no more shocked than I was. And it's not the right time...I know that but...well I was hoping that we could..."

"Shut up." Draco interrupted her rudely and she snapped her mouth shut and stared at him. "Shut up, Hermione Granger..." he paused and then a familiar little smile played at the corner of his mouth, "or should I say soon to be Hermione Malfoy?" He grinned widely now and she grinned back.

"It's okay then?"

He winked at her before grabbing her across the table. "Come over here and I'll show you just how okay it is."

**There it is! Over! I debated about how to finish this as I really hate epilogues, I feel like they always turn out sappy and overly romantic with everyone out of character. But I haven't done one before and someone said they hated the way I ended my stories so I thought I'd give it a go. Not sure I'm 100% happy with it but I think it's okay. Hope you really enjoyed this story, I wasn't sure it was going to hold everyone's attention as much as my others but I am quite pleased with how it turned out. Anyway as always let me know what you think by reviewing. Thanks for all the great comments and I'll be back soon with story number 5. xxx**


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